A House Divided is Ticked Off
by robbiepoo2341
Summary: You'd think after killing Sinister, the Summers family would get a little peace and happiness. But when Scott and Annie welcome their second son into the world, a mysterious baby shower present leads Scott to investigate... and it looks like the Hellfire Club has a new member ready to cause some serious damage for the X-Men and their families.
1. Waspberries and 'Neversaries

**Woohoo! We're back with more of the 714 Marvel Universe! If you missed Volume 15, you should definitely check it out. It's "Face Your Demons. No, Really" on Canucklehead Cowgirl's profile. This time, with Sinister dead, you'd think that everyone could get a breath but YOU WOULD BE WRONG. ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: "Waspberries and 'Neversaries"**

* * *

It was a hot August evening, so all the windows were open, and Kate and Annie had two fans blowing on them as they were doing the hot-summer-day approximation of snuggling together. Annie was due any day now, and Kate was only a few weeks behind, so both of them had reached the point of pure misery and not wanting to move, especially in the summer heat.

To make matters worse, Annie was a few days late — and it was her anniversary. She'd been hoping not to be pregnant through the big day, so she was feeling particularly miserable as she and Kate watched _Steel Magnolias_ together, more or less hiding from people, the heat, and everything else.

They should have known something was up when Elin peeked around the corner for just a moment — then disappeared back the way she came.

A few minutes later, the twins very carefully made their ways over to Kate and their mother, walking slowly and carrying a bowl for each of them with what was very obviously fresh peach cobbler, complete with homemade whipped cream.

Annie's eyes lit up when she saw the two little ones and their treats, and after she took the bowl from Chance, she kissed his forehead. "Thank you, sweetheart," she told him as he beamed proudly — and Kate was snuggling Charlie on the other side of her. Chance watched Annie carefully until she took a bite, and when she grinned around the spoon, he giggled delightedly.

"Happy neversary!" he told her as he planted a little kiss on her cheek and Charlie carefully crawled over Kate to do the same.

"This is so thoughtful," Annie said, still beaming at both of them. "Thank you so much!"

"Who helped you make it?" Kate asked with a little smirk that said she already knew exactly who it was — which was only widening when both of the twins started to giggle madly with little fingers pressed to their lips.

"Shhhhush." Charlie put a hand over Chance's mouth when he looked like he might say something. "It's a supwise! Secwet for your neversary."

"We got to help!" Chance said when he pushed her hand away from his mouth. "And we got to have wasberries and cream because we did a good job too!"

"You always do a good job," Kate said, grinning as Annie rubbed noses with her little boy.

"You are so thoughtful," Annie said again.

Kate was giggling with Charlie as she pretended to be having a hard time getting the peaches and cream in her mouth, dropping the food back in her bowl as soon as she got close until Charlie was giggling uncontrollably and half trying to feed Kate herself as Kate finally took a bite normally and grinned at the little girl. "This is a little different than you do it," she told Annie over Charlie's head.

Annie shook her head. "That's what happens when I'm not around to keep order," she said with a teasing sigh.

"And we're all suffering for the loss of our master chef," Kate teased right back.

"What _did_ y'all do without me?" Annie laughed, and Kate shrugged.

"Dunno. I wasn't an X-Man very long before you came and rescued us from Bobby," she teased, and Annie laughed outright at that.

The twins were beaming at seeing their mom in a much better mood and looking very proud that they'd had a hand in it as they watched the two very pregnant women teasing each other. Chance tapped on his mom's shoulder for a moment with wide eyes. "Mommy, what is your order?" he asked.

"My order?"

He nodded, and Charlie started to giggle. "You gotta order food, Mommy," Charlie tried to explain.

Chance nodded. "We can help with dinner!"

Kate and Annie glanced at each other with barely restrained giggles on seeing the two very earnest twins waiting for their mom's 'order,' so Annie put on her most dramatic thoughtul face before she nodded slowly. "You know… this peach cobbler's got me cravin' pulled pork."

"Pull pork, okay," Chance nodded.

"And wemonade!" Charlie said before Annie could say anything as she climbed over Kate so she could get back down. "With wasberries!"

Both of the twins gave their mom one more hug and rushed off to go find K so they could give her Annie's 'order.'

"This should be interesting," Annie said with a little smirk.

"Which part — the little waiter and waitress or the food?" Kate giggled.

"The Northerner making Southern food… I don't think that's normal."

"Well, this isn't a normal household," Kate teased her as she popped another spoonful of cobbler into her mouth, both of them now in considerably better moods than they were before.

* * *

Downstairs in the kitchen, there was plenty of hustle and bustle as not only the twins but all of the tiniest mansion residents were trying to help as best they could — and get rewarded with raspberries. Even some of the Avengers' kids, like Zoe and Gerry, were in on it.

K was managing to keep them all busy too, and after hearing what Annie had requested, K let Gerry squeeze the lemons, while Chance was excited to mash up raspberries with Elin as K scribbled down a few things on a list and handed it to Scott.

"You know what she likes to go with it, so just pick up whatever and I'll make it happen," she said calmly, gently directing Sying and Krissy to get them to pour sugar in the big pitcher for the lemonade. "Probably more lemons too; these kids are going to drink this batch before we hit afternoon."

Scott's little runaway, Jana, was nervously trying to help out too — if nothing else, helping to clean up whatever little messes the kids made before they got too far out of hand. "And more paper towels," she said quickly as she was trying to get some berry juice off of Sying's face. "Please," she added just as fast.

Scott nodded her way with a little smirk. "Got it," he called out before he headed out the door to do his part in making Annie more comfortable — and to leave K and Jana to the small zoo of kids.

"Don't worry," K said in an easy tone. "Noh and Jubes are coming back in a little bit, and they'll grab a few more grown-ups and take the ones that want to go out to the pool."

"I don't mind working," Jana said quickly.

"Good," K replied. "You're going to help me here once the kids are out of the way. Has Annie started teaching you how to cook yet?"

Jana blushed a little. "We, um, we did a few things when she was still up to it," she admitted. "She's been real nice to me."

"Good," K said with a nod. "I think she likes you."

"She likes everyone," Jana shrugged.

"Right, keep that attitude up and you'll have to hang out with Kurt just so he can give you an adjustment," K replied without looking up at her. "I'm sure Annie will want to correct you on the 'right' way to cook when she is back on her feet, but … no self respecting Michigan girl can go on in life without knowing a few of _our_ local things. Just wait until it's cold out. I'll get you when the snow flies."

Jana studied K for a moment before she nodded. "I'll have a pretty full schedule," she said. "Scott wants me in tactics, and I want to take more self-defense stuff."

"Good," she replied. "You have your schedule figured out, then?"

"More or less."

"So, aside from the 'normal' classes, tactics, and self defense — is that all you have lined up?"

"I want to take Rachel's class on telepathic self-defense too," she said. "Get everything covered. Anything I might run into later."

"Sound like you're jockeying for a spot on the team," K observed, finally peeking up at her.

"I could do it," Jana said with her chin thrust out. "I can prove it."

"Yeah? We'll see," K said with a little smirk.

"You _will_ see," Jana said with a decisive nod. "I'm going to practice every day — as much as I can."

"Good," K replied. "If you think you need any extra coaching, come find me."

"Really?" She brightened up substantially. "That — that would be really good."

"I was considering offering a crash course on women's self defense if there was an interest," K admitted.

"You _should_ ," Jana said with a gleam in her eye. "Half these kids around here don't know the first thing about anything — you _should_."

"It'd be a little different focus than Logan's class," K said. "And totally different methods."

"I can handle it," Jana insisted.

"I hope so; the guys I have in mind to help won't be easy to fight through," K told her. "And I might make some of the women on staff take it too."

"Is there an age limit?" Jana asked. "I mean ... I'm almost fourteen now…"

"No, you should learn it and get it ingrained enough to be something you don't have to think about. Repetition until it's a matter of muscle memory. Easier if you're younger," K pointed out.

"Great. Can I bring Leslie Ann?" Jana asked, starting to get excited now.

"As long as her mom and dad okay it, and Scott okays the class — which, he probably will once I tell him it's going to be all about women's self defense and rape prevention." K shrugged a little bit. "Gotta do something when it's too cold to ride."

"Oh yeah." Jana nodded. "She's lucky. Dad like that — uncle like that. They're all about keeping her safe."

K let out a little breath as she nodded. The kids had found their way out of the kitchen and into the living room, playing cars quietly as they wound down from the excitement of the morning's baking. "What's your story, anyhow?" K asked.

Jana fell into a frown and shrugged up both shoulders. "Typical street rat. Not much to tell," she said.

"Yeah, kinda figured," she said. "Guessing orphaned?"

"Yeah, I went through the system for a while, but I ditched when I was a kid," she said. "Foster dad sucked."

"I hear you there," she said with a little shake of her head. "Lucky you to end up here instead of somewhere else."

She shrugged again. "Probably should have been locked up when I was a kid."

"Don't talk to me about that kind of nonsense," she said seriously. "I'll sic Noh on you with the 'should have beens'."

Jana looked surprised "It's the truth. You heard about what happened with Dr. Essex. It's not like he's the first scumbag I made deals with."

"And you heard about what happened with the Kree, right?" K challenged as she finished cleaning up the counter. "And likely half the other crap that's been publicized. Just don't."

"Yeah, I guess," she said. She shrugged up both shoulders quickly. "It's a good place to be." She glanced at K for a moment and then whispered like a secret, "I'm sorta hoping to stay."

K smirked at her for a moment. "I don't see any reason that you can't," she said before Noh and Jubilee came bursting in, ready to take all the little ones out on their swimming adventure. They had swimsuits, inflatable water wings, pool toys, goggles — the works.

It wasn't long at all before Jana and K could hear through the open kitchen window the loud laughter and screaming from the pool, including little Zoe's high-pitched half-giggled "Da!" — her one and only word she knew — which she kept repeating over and over again as her dad threw her up in the air.

* * *

After a full day of being totally pampered, Annie was in much better spirits and was happily enjoying snuggling with Scott. K seemed to have taken the whole day into her own hands, sending Scott off as soon as dinner was over with promises that she and Logan would babysit for the night so they could have some peace and quiet.

She had her head resting on his chest and was perfectly tucked in when she felt it — the intense wrenching in her lower back that she recognized from when she'd had the twins.

"Scott," she said through her teeth, which had him sitting up a bit. "Scott, get Hank."

That had him on high alert very quickly, sitting up to gently prop her up and hold her hand, rubbing her back as it took just a second for her request to kick in. "Right," he said, though instead of going to get Hank, he seemed to have decided to expedite the process as he scooped her up and brought her down to the lab.

Scott laid Annie down gently as she tried to breathe while he knocked on Hank and Daisy's door, wide-eyed. It only took Hank a moment to see what was going on, and of course, he and Daisy both set to work helping as Daisy went right to Annie to gently talk her through.

For Annie, it was far different from having the twins. There was still that strange sensation after the epidural of things moving around that she could sort of feel without feeling. But there wasn't that second push, that strange pressure, that sinking feeling of "everything happening all over again" just when she'd gotten her breath back.

And then — the unmistakable sound of a baby crying.

Annie sat up a bit straighter, straining to see as Hank gently wrapped up the new little bundle and set him in her arms as Scott looked over her shoulder with unrestrained wonder. She glanced up at him for a moment and saw that his eyes were actually glistening and wondered if he'd looked like that when the twins were born and she just hadn't been able to see because of the glasses.

"What's his name?" Daisy asked with a little smile as she watched the two of them simply melting over their newest little one.

"Cody," Scott said in what was more a breath than actually speaking. "His name's Cody."

The little one seemed to recognize the sound of his dad's voice as, with wide, brown eyes, he looked up at Scott and _stared_ , and Annie had to smile when that had her husband melting all over again.

"Hold him," Annie said as she gently tipped the tiny little boy into Scott's arms and watched as he just seemed to sink into the chair, completely wrapped up in nothing but Cody. The body language and the slightly open mouth was the same as the first time, with the twins, but it really was something else entirely to watch the full effect.

It didn't take long for Cody to curl up and fall asleep with Scott, and Annie wasn't too far behind. They had decided to wait until the morning to tell everyone, since it was about two in the morning when Cody finally made his debut, and they didn't want the twins to be grumpy while they were meeting their little brother for the first time.

So when morning came around, they were both sharing little smirks with each other as they made their way upstairs to Logan and K's room early. They were expected to come drop by and get the twins, but they brought Cody along with them.

K was the one to answer the door, as the kids had already gotten up and were trying to stop Logan from stepping outside the room; he had a twin on each arm and Elin hanging off of his neck. "How are you feeling?" K asked as she stepped back and out of their way.

"Just wonderful," Annie said with a smile as she brought little Cody in to meet everyone. When the twins realized what was going on, they completely abandoned Logan and ran over to their mom with wide eyes, both clamoring to be able to see better as Annie sat down so they could get a good look.

"He so little!" Charlie proclaimed, her eyes wide with wonder.

"I wuv him," Chance proclaimed already, giving his baby brother a hug and a kiss, which prompted Charlie to do the same.

"Alright, give Cody a little space," Annie said gently, which only prompted the twins to climb into Scott's arms so they could still be part of the family snuggling but technically be giving Annie and Cody space.

"Hi, Cody!" Charlie waved, giggling almost uncontrollably when her newest little brother stared at her through already long eyelashes.

"Logan, would you like to hold him?" Annie offered with a little smile, though she was already tipping Cody into his arms.

"I guess so," he replied, giving her a little look before he had to smile at the little guy and shake his head. "I think this one favors Annie."

"I won't argue that. He's perfect," Scott agreed, still very much beaming over the whole thing.

"You guys are in the pretty baby business," K said, peeking over Logan's shoulder with Elin sneaking a peek from her arms.

Chance giggled. "Ewin. That's _my_ little brother! Just like you have one!" he called out to her.

"He is sweet," Elin said softly as she smiled at the little guy and leaned heavily into her mother.

"That's because he's ours," Annie said with a little grin. "All of my little ones are sweet."

"Inna help him," Chance told K, remembering what she'd said before.

"I know you will, big guy," K said to him before she reached over and ruffled his hair.

"He just missed our anniversary by a couple hours," Annie told them as she gently took Cody back from Logan and kissed his forehead. "He wanted to take his sweet time getting here."

"Fashionably late," Logan told her.

"If you say so," Annie laughed. She readjusted Cody in her arms before she pressed a little kiss to Logan's temple. "Thanks for looking after the kids. Your timing was perfect."

"Yeah. Lucky us," Scott said with a smirk without looking at either feral.

"Anytime," Logan replied with a little smirk of his own.

Annie beamed at both of them before she nodded toward the door. "We're going to go find Rachel. But we'll see you at breakfast, I'm sure."

With that, the little group of ferals all headed out behind the giggling Summers clan as they went toward Rachel's room. Annie let the twins knock on her door, as they were both clearly excited and wanted to be part of the announcement, and as soon as the door had opened, the twins seized a hand apiece. "Wachel! You gotta meet Cody!" Charlie told her, already pulling on her.

"He so little!" Chance added excitedly. "You gotta be gentle."

Annie grinned at both of the little excited twins and didn't wait to be invited in as she gently tipped Cody into Rachel's arms.

"He's so _little_ ," Rachel said with wide eyes as she looked at her little brother.

"Which you wouldn't think he would be, seeing as he was so late," Annie joked lightly.

"He's just … they just all look so tiny when they're new."

Scott grinned at her as he leaned over her shoulder to take one of Cody's hands and show off the little bitty fingers. "Try holding his hand," he suggested with an unrestrained grin. "The fingers and toes are just… so small."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Rachel said, shaking her head a little bit.

"He's your little brother," Scott said in a tone that brokered no argument.

"I know," she said. "I just ... I don't hold the tiny ones. I don't do anything with them until they're big enough to walk."

"Well, you do now," Annie told her, smiling as Cody seemed to snuggle right up to Rachel. "He likes you."

"You gotta say hi," Charlie instructed her patiently. "Say hi to little brudder."

"Hey, little guy," Rachel said, taking up on Charlie's cue. "I'll bet you want to go back to Dad, right?"

But Cody just snuggled right in, and Scott was chuckling and had a hand on Rachel's shoulder. "I'll take you out for a burger later. Just humor me," he promised, still chuckling.

"I don't need the bribe," she said. "I'll humor you anyhow."

Scott grinned wider at that as Chance tugged on Rachel's pajama pants leg. "Now you have _two_ little brothers," he told her.

"Yes, I do," she told him. "And are they ever trouble."

"Yes." Charlie agreed very seriously, nodding hard. "Silly brudders."

"They're just like their dad," Rachel teased as she gave Scott a little smirk.

"They're not the only ones," he said with a smirk to match.

"I don't know; everyone says I take after mom," Rachel said with a little shrug. "I don't see it."

"You do," Scott agreed. "You look a lot like her."

"The mannerisms, though," Annie cut in, gesturing between the two shrugging Summerses. "Those are all Scott." She smiled and shook her head as she held out her arms for Cody. "We'll let you get dressed. We just wanted to make sure the _whole_ family got to meet him first."

When she handed Cody back, Rachel leaned forward to give Annie a little kiss on the cheek before projecting out to her: _Thanks for taking care of my dad._

Annie beamed at her and focused her thoughts like Rachel had taught her to give her an answer: _Thanks for sharing him with me_.

"I'll see you guys at breakfast," Rachel said as if the exchange hadn't happened at all. "I heard that there was going to be something good."

"Pancakes!" Charlie declared happily. "With choc'lit chips!"

"Meet you down there," Scott chuckled as both of the twins now had hold of either of his hands and were happily trying to drag him down the stairs toward said pancakes — and Rachel couldn't help but laugh as she followed behind them.


	2. The Catch is in the Cradle

**Chapter 2: "The Catch is in the Cradle"**

* * *

Annie's pregnancy had been particularly rough, so she hadn't had much of a baby shower. Kate, on the other hand, while miserable, was determined to still do her party planning thing — and wanted to throw Annie a late shower.

And way more people showed up than Annie had expected. She wasn't an X-Man; she thought her sphere of influence was limited to the people who lived in the mansion. But she underestimated just how many heroes had been through the mansion at some point or another and been forcibly pampered by her cooking and hospitality. Nearly every hero on that side of the world came bearing gifts — including several months' worth of baby clothes that Tony had brought in cute little baskets, along with presents and toys for all the little kids so they wouldn't feel left out.

"Stop spoiling them so rotten," Kate teased as she watched Krissy giggling and running around with her Sleeping Beauty Barbie doll.

"They like it," he defended with a shrug. "And besides, I didn't … actually do it myself. Blame Pepper."

She laughed at that. "Oh, then I know where to send the hyper kids," she laughed. "She can get mobbed and deal with the consequences." She rested a hand on her stomach with a significant look as she said it. "You _are_ pretty good with the little ones."

But Tony didn't really respond or react other than to feign deafness and walk off to where some of the other guys were chatting and discussing what plans they had for new sims or the latest rotation schedule.

Meanwhile, the twins were helping their parents unwrap the presents for their new little brother, giggling and enjoying themselves as they played with the wrapping and threw it in rolled-up balls at each other.

"Who's this one from?" Annie asked when she got to one that was bigger than the rest.

Scott looked around the wrapped box but didn't see anything. "Maybe it fell off? Or it's inside?" he offered with a small frown, though he was scanning the floor for a fallen card.

Annie shrugged and directed the twins on unwrapped the large thing — there was plenty of paper for them to play with, after all — before she had to stop when she saw what was inside and let out a soft gasp. "Oh. It's beautiful," she said softly, running a hand over the hand-carved mahogany wood crib, her fingers tracing the calligraphic writing that had Cody's name in a hundred different languages. She looked up at the party guests, her gaze finding those that had the kind of funds to do something like this — but she was met only with blank shrugs from Kate, Tony… nobody was taking credit.

"It's pretty, but it doesn't look comfy for sleeping," Gerry said loudly, breaking the silence at last.

"Some things for looking — no touching," Sying said in a sing-song voice that meant he'd probably been told that exact thing a hundred times.

"No," Elin weighed in before she simply turned around and left the little area where the kids had gathered to climb up on her father, who looked Annie's way and shrugged.

"It's… too nice," Annie said at last.

"You got that right," Scott said quietly, almost under his breath as he was looking the gift over.

"This took weeks," Rachel said over Scott's shoulder. "It had to be from someone you told."

"We didn't tell anyone," Scott told her in a low whisper. "Annie and I were the only ones who knew his name; we didn't even tell the twins. We wanted it to be a surprise, in case we had the gender wrong again." He fell into a deeper frown. "Cody's only a few days old. This... " He sighed and fell silent before he projected Rachel's way, _After the party, let's grab Logan. See if he can find a scent._

 _I'll tell him now so he doesn't slip away_ , Rachel projected back. _Though he already looks suspicious._

He nodded at that. _Would've been surprised if he wasn't_.

Their suspicions were confirmed when it came time for Annie to move on to the next item and Logan set Elin down to volunteer to move it before Rachel could mention they wanted a scent.

It wasn't long after that when the party started to wind down, especially since lots of the kids were ready for bed soon after that. So once Annie was headed upstairs with Cody, Scott made his excuses and slipped over to where Logan was. "Catch anything?" he asked quietly.

"Nothing familiar," he replied, though he was looking it over closely. "Has to be a makers mark somewhere that we can trace back."

"Problem is I'm a bit rusty on my languages," Scott said with a sigh. "Could miss a mark with some of these — there's alien languages in here too."

"I'm not," Logan told him without any hesitation. "Whoever carved this was likely here, just gotta find it."

"Kate already offered to look into the delivery," Scott told him, looking over the crib as well. "Seemed like she wanted the opportunity to do some detective work."

"Yeah, she's trying to revive that little racket of hers," Logan said, nodding before he tipped his head a bit and tapped a hidden, carved symbol that, once the crib was fully assembled, you'd never see. "There it is. Persian."

Scott leaned over to see where Logan was pointing and frowned. "I'll cross-match it," he said. "Ask Kate if it was an international delivery or domestic so I can narrow the search."

"Alright, let me know if you need anything else translated."

Scott smirked and nodded. "Can do."

* * *

It hadn't taken long at all to cross-check the symbol Logan found on the crib — especially when he showed it to Kate and she beamed and shook her head. "Oh, I've seen that; there's an Uzbeki shop nearby. I had them do the gag gift cane for Kurt — it was amazing."

So early the next morning, when the shop was open, Scott drove out into the city to go and speak to the shop owner, who Kate assured him was "the cutest old man ever," to see if he could get a description of who ordered the crib.

He and K entered the shop — which was lightly perfumed and had a purely authentic look to it. Everything in it looked hand-crafted, including the desk where the little old man was sitting and writing up a few receipts. He beamed at them with a smile that was missing a few teeth but with wrinkles that reached every crevice around his eyes. "How can I help you?" he asked in obviously carefully practiced English.

K put on a well-practiced grin, shrugged her shoulders up to her ears and gave Scott's arm a little squeeze before she hesitantly took a step forward. "Are you the genius that carved a crib a few weeks back for a little boy named Cody in all those languages?"

The little old man considered her for a moment with a sedate and professional smile. "Yes, that was my shop," he said, nodding slowly.

"That was a work of art," K said, doing her best to sound completely astounded even this far beyond seeing it in person. "Do you have any examples of floral motifs? I'd just love to have something intricate done for my little girl on the way." She bit her lip and glanced over at Scott for just a second, resting one hand on her stomach as the little old craftsman smiled wider.

"Of course, of course!" he said with a little laugh. "Come. I show you some of my other projects." He gestured for her to join him in the back room as Scott quickly caught on and called out her way.

"I'll leave it up to you," he said with a little laugh, and the old man gave him a little wink before she disappeared into the back with him and Scott very quickly made his way over to the leather bound books behind the counter.

Everything that the old man had there was hand-written on unlined paper — little notations about every project — but all of it was in Persian. The only parts that weren't were dates, numbers — and the English word 'Cody' on one of the entries. He smiled and pulled out his cell phone to snap a photo of the page and several leading up to and following it — just in case — and sent the whole thing to Logan while he waited patiently for K to return with the old man.

It didn't take terribly long, and the woodworker made sure to slip Scott his business card — promising to send them a few sketches for what he had in mind for their project — before Scott put an arm around K and led her outside.

They were barely out of the door when Scott's phone went off with Logan's text translating all that was on the page Scott was looking at. He had to smile to himself on how smoothly that had gone.

When they got back to the car, K was shaking her head. "I've got to get a shower before that glitter sets in and I actually _need_ another crib," she joked before she looked over at Scott. "You get what you needed, big guy?"

"I've got the receipts, yeah — and an address" he said. He grinned sideways her way. "I can drop you off on my way," he offered. "Make sure Kate sees some of those sketches. She's the one with the actual glitter problem, as I understand it."

"You understand it properly, but what fun would it be to show her beforehand? Surprise, surprise, my sweet Cyclops," K said as she grinned at him and gave him a little kiss on the temple before they climbed into Scott's car and headed back.

* * *

It was about mid-afternoon when Scott pulled up to the extravagant house far out in the countryside. He didn't go straight to the front door, either — he just didn't feel good about the whole thing, and he wanted to get a good idea of the place before he made his approach.

He parked a little ways out from the front gate before he made a quick sweep of the perimeter, studying the layout of the place. He had been out enough times with Noh-Varr updating the mansion security to recognize the small divots, the little wires, the marks that meant there were plenty of security features on this place.

But that also meant he knew how to get past those security measures.

He found where the control box was hidden away and very carefully and precisely cut through it before he vaulted the stone wall onto the grounds and continued from there.

He kept an eye out for further security measures as he made his way through the grounds, passing through a garden populated with marble statues and exquisite fountains. Whoever these people were, they had fine taste — though the more Scott saw of the place, the more his hackles were raised.

The garden gave way to more open grounds for a moment, though as Scott approached the house, there were rose bushes lining the old stone walls, with vines running along the polished facade. The outside of the house was a bit of a fortress as well. Scott could see where there were security cameras that he needed to avoid, the hedges and rose bushes strategically placed so that it was difficult to get close enough to the house to see inside without tripping the security measures.

It was well-built. It was extravagant. It was hitting all of Scott's internal alarms.

He edged his way around the outside of the house. It had to have been built at least a couple hundred years ago, for its size and design, but the wire that Scott only just saw before he would have tripped it was definitely modern.

He had reached the back of the house when he heard the first sign of life from inside the house — the scrape of a door, wood against stone that had him pressing himself low against the hedge two seconds before he felt the familiar sharp sting of an attack on his mind, the defenses he'd built up with years of working with the X-Men holding long enough to tell him he was really in trouble before he hit the soft and manicured grass.

* * *

"You get anything on that address?" Logan asked Kate after a fair amount of time had passed with no further word from Scott.

Kate glanced at him over the top of her laptop, her pen between her teeth as usual when she was working, before she nodded. "It's an old family home that no longer belongs to the old family that owns it," she explained.

"Sounds like just about every house on the eastern seaboard," Logan said with a dry look. "How about who owns it now and skipping the history part for now?"

"Well that's the thing," Kate said. "The sale was hush hush. I guess they didn't want anyone to know they'd lost all their fortune and had to sell the place. The name I'm getting is such a dummy name it doesn't even _try_ to act like it's not 'John Smith'."

"Stuff like that happens all the time," he said. "Probably went into a corporation."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Only the corporation's a fake, the buyer's a fake. But the money trail is real. I _should_ be able to follow it." She let out a breath in frustration.

"You thinkin' Kingpin?" he asked as he finally slowed in his pacing enough to consider sitting down.

"It would be his style," Kate said, running a distracted hand through her hair. "There's a few other options, too. The high-end style, members of the old board, that kind of thing. Don't know what Kingpin would want with Scott's kid, though."

"Who all is on the board?" Logan asked, though he walked around her desk to look over her shoulder.

She didn't even hesitate to hand him a file with names in it. "I've been keeping an eye on them since you and Kurt and Scott busted them up. Viper, Kingpin, a few others — but they're not as powerful as they used to be since you guys got mad when they blew me up." She smirked a bit remembering it and sighed. "Not that they're any less annoying on their own."

"Can pretty much rule out Viper," Logan said. "Not her style to send anything like that. No idea what Kingpin would want with Scott, so that doesn't sound too promising." He was just looking down the list and shaking his head.

"Might not be on the old board. It's not like they're the only bad guys with money," Kate offered. She started to type into her desktop, setting aside her laptop for a moment as she followed her train of thought. "A lot of them ran in the same circles; my dad knew just about everyone with a bank account and a crooked deal. Let me run some old family names."

Already, Logan had set the file down and just looked a bit uncomfortable, thinking it through. "This gonna take long, or am I going to miss something good if I go change?"

"I'll have the list finished for you by the time you get back," she promised. "I'll mark anything good I find while you're powdering your nose."

"I'm gettin' my party dress, not powderin' my nose. See you in ten," he agreed before he headed out at a jog, already trying to decide who would be best to go along with him since everything he saw stunk of bad news.

When he got back to Kate's office, she did in fact have a list coming off her printer for him, and she waved it at him when she saw him walk in. "You probably recognize like 90% of these by other names, but I swear they're all in my dad's 'family business' or business of their own. They all know each other, really."

He had a frown on his face when he took the paper from her that quickly fell into a clear 'oh crap' expression.

"Found something?" she asked, leaning forward.

"Yeah," he said, shaking his head and growling a bit. "The damn Hellfire Club." He took a few steps backwards to the door. "I'm going to need everyone that's free. Can you help navigate the kids?"

"Yeah, I can watch them. I'll set up movies with Annie. They've been asking to see the new Disney movie anyway," Kate said, watching him with obvious worry. "Keep your comm handy. I'm calling in backup if you need it."

"Yeah, I'll keep both of 'em handy. If something goes wrong, I'll get Steve first," Logan promised before he did, in fact, hit the X-Men's comm and called out to anyone available to get their asses down to the hangar to pull Scott's chestnuts out of the fire.

* * *

The aftermath of a psychic attack was never fun, and Scott groaned the slightest bit as he started to wake up, the heady throbbing still echoing in his ears for a moment — though the moment he started to sit up...

"Don't!" Annie's voice called out, nearly terrified. "Scott, don't open your eyes."

He froze, not only at the instructions but at the near hysteria he could hear, and he felt his breath catch in his throat at knowing it was _him_ that had her sounding like that as he felt the familiar prickling, almost burning sensation just behind his eyes that meant his optic blasts were _on_. He tried to turn them off, but… nothing worked, and he could feel his mouth going dry as he screwed his eyes shut as tightly as he could.

"Annie…" He trailed off and swallowed hard. What was he supposed to tell her? That he'd lost control again, after all the work they put into learning how to use his powers? That he had no idea what had gone wrong, that he might have to hide again, that he was already panicking wondering if this meant he wouldn't be able to see the color fur Kate and Kurt's new little one had or admire one of Chance's finger paintings properly? Because the only thing he knew for sure was that the old sensation was back, that uncontrollable burning just behind his eyes — the one that had never stopped, not since he got his powers, not until Tyler healed him. And he _couldn't turn it off_.

 _Again_.

He took a deep breath and tried to regain some semblance of control, if not over his powers then at least over his emotions so he didn't scare Annie any worse than he already had.

With his eyes still squeezed tightly shut, he had to rely on other clues to tell him where he was. The soft cushions of the seat where he was felt almost _too_ plush, and he leaned against the back of it and stretched out one arm to find that it was wide — so probably a couch of some kind. He could hear the crackle of a fire and felt a bit of its warmth on his right side. But it wasn't the school. He couldn't hear the kids or the students — and it smelled faintly of jasmine tea.

"Scott, where are we?" Annie asked in a voice trembling with fear, and he wished that he could tell where her voice was coming from so he could at least face her, reach out for her — something. But the acoustics in the room made it impossible to tell where she was.

"I don't know yet," he said, frowning as he cautiously swept an arm over the area around him, following the arm of the seat until his fingers found the wood of the table next to him, and he was surprised when he felt, for just a moment, the brush of her fingers before she pulled away with a terrified sort of gasp.

She was scared of him. Scared of the damage he could do just by _looking_ at her, scared of the trouble he'd brought down on her. He felt all the blood drain from his face as he pulled his hand back and tried to show with his body language as much as possible that he wasn't going to let anything happen to her, that he wouldn't open his eyes, that she was safe…. He could hear her hitched breath and just…

"Annie, I'm so sorry," he said softly, but when the response was another little hitched breath, he stilled entirely, just… trying not to scare her.

She was quiet except for the sounds of her quiet and muffled crying, and Scott tried to be as slow and non-threatening as he could as he moved, this time reaching to the side instead of forward, searching for something… there.

His hands closed around the light fabric, not caring for the moment what the material was — scarf, handkerchief, whatever — as he quickly folded it and didn't hesitate to tie it tight around his eyes. He had to do something concrete, something to prove to Annie that he couldn't hurt her. He tied the knot tight and then leaned back, listening again, waiting to see if she understood, if she could trust him even when he couldn't trust himself.

He waited — he could hear her breathing even, could hear the slight hitching and the light sniffling fade off. "Annie," he tried again, gently. "I'm so sorry. Please — I'm sorry."

He waited, half holding his breath, making the move hers as he was still a bit convinced that she would pull back from him, that he would scare her off. So he nearly melted in relief as he both heard and felt the movement of the cushions beside him as she very carefully sat on the couch near him — but not quite beside him.

All he wanted to do was pull her to him and apologize — and promise that she would be safe, no matter what he had to do to keep her that way. He was aching with the need to fix this, somehow, to make it better, to make up for how badly he'd shaken her. But there weren't words for that aching need, so he just said, "I'm so sorry" again as the shame of his own failings washed over him. He couldn't even keep his wife safe from _himself_. What kind of leader — what kind of husband was that?

He'd been stupid, careless. He must have let his control slip somehow, must have gotten too relaxed, forgotten how to keep himself in check. He couldn't let that happen again, not when it was such a risk.

"Scott," Annie said at last, almost tentative, and he felt the light brush of fingertips against his knee before she rested her hand there, and it was all he could do to keep from snatching it up and pulling her to him. He'd never been this unsure — he'd never _scared_ her like this before.

Very gently, he slid his hand underneath hers, pausing when he felt her flinch the slightest bit. His throat was so dry it was aching. "Are you hurt?" he asked, dreading the answer.

He heard a sound like a soft whimper, and in a second, everything crashed down around his ears. His wife was hurting and scared — _his fault_.

He set his jaw, steadying his breath for a moment. "I'll fix this, I swear," he promised through his teeth, almost pleading with her to believe him. He gently threaded his fingers through hers, and when she didn't flinch away, he let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding as he gently covered her hand with his other hand, running his thumb over her knuckles as carefully as he knew how. "I promise: I won't let anything happen to you."

He could feel her hand trembling the slightest bit, and he bit the inside of his lip when he realized she was still terrified. "Can you tell me what happened? Where are the kids?" he asked gently.

"You said we'd be safe," she said, her voice shaking. "You promised…" She trailed off, and he was only just keeping his own hands from shaking with anger — at himself, at the situation, at his inability to keep his family safe. Stupid — to think he of all people could have anything like a normal family. He'd known since he was a kid that anyone who got close to him got hurt, and now, with his wife too scared to get close to him, too scared of _him_ to tell him what was wrong ... he wondered when he'd forgotten that and let his guard down.

"I know," he said, his voice crackling in his too-dry throat. "I'm sorry. Annie, I — I'm so sorry." He waited, listening, and he was surprised when he felt a hand on his cheek, caressing his face. He leaned into the touch, bringing one hand up to cover hers before he gently turned to kiss the palm of her hand.


	3. Too Many Telepaths

**Notes: Okay, but now that song is stuck in my head... But yeah, Emma... has always been about getting in Scott's head and trying to twist him into who SHE wants him to be, so this? This is sadly no surprise.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: "Too Many Telepaths"**

* * *

"Okay, who are we dealing with in there — exactly?" Logan asked Rachel as they made their approach to the new Hellfire headquarters.

There was a touch of fire in her gaze as she had one hand outstretched to focus on the building in front of them. She was _not_ happy about the Hellfire Club coming after her father — especially when she had been enjoying seeing him with her new little brother all warm and contented. "Not too many this time," she muttered. "Emma and her stupid Cuckoos… feels like … Sebastian Shaw, Selene ... somebody new, too."

"Not too many — but all of their nasty hitters," Logan replied with a little frown. "Too damn many telepaths."

Rachel gave him a bit of a look. "That's sort of the point."

"You can't hold 'em all off either, can you?" He had an expression that clearly read he was trying to come up with something — and fast.

"Not just me, no," Rachel said with a frown. "Not without help."

"Yeah, don't … do that," Logan said softly. "I think … we can do this without that kinda help." He got up and left Kurt to fly as he headed to the back of the plane to look through what Hank had on hand for 'toys'. In the middle of the boxes of discarded collars and restraints, he found a fairly impressive dampener field generator that he wasn't entirely sure was functional.

"Hey, Petey, can you see if this thing works?" Logan asked before he tossed the machine his way.

Peter raised his eyebrows at it for a second before he started tinkering with it. "Hold on, please," he muttered out of the corner of his mouth, half mumbling to himself for a few minutes before he nodded triumphantly and tossed it back. "Works _now_."

Logan flipped it on and turned to Rachel. "What number am I thinking of?"

She frowned at him for a moment, then couldn't help the little smirk as she shook her head. "Not a clue."

"Great; we'll use this then." He flipped it off and tossed it back to Peter. "Web that thing up in the middle of the damn room when we get there so they can't tear it down and flip it on. We can beat them easy if we keep 'em out of our heads."

"Easy 'nuff," Remy agreed with a growing smile as Peter nodded and tucked the machine away.

"Just need you and K to keep from getting shot all to hell and back," Rachel pointed out. "Is that possible?"

"Maybe," K replied with a little shrug. "One way to find out."

The little group of heros began to plot on how best to approach the situation, and it was decided that Rachel would do all she could to block Spiderman from their telepaths to give him a chance to get inside and set up the dampener field while the ferals — Logan, K, and Tyler as well — made a distraction and Kurt and Remy searched for Scott.

As planned, the three ferals took off to circle around and hit what they thought looked like the weak point in the place's security so it at least _looked_ like an actual attempt to hit them. "Come on, Kitten Whiskers," K half sang. "You get to learn how to be distracting."

"I'm not already?" Tyler joked, gesturing at himself.

"No, you're really not," she teased. "Startling sometimes, yes. But not distracting." They got well past the security — more or less taking the same route Scott had used to get in — and almost made it all the way to the door when they were, predictably, busted.

For Tyler, it was a very different sensation to the practice Rachel had put the students through in teaching telepathic self-defense. This was way more unexpected and hurt a heck of a lot more when he hit the ground, along with both Logan and K, as the Cuckoos hit all three of them in a psychic attack.

"You don't belong here," the three of them said in unison. "You're not welcome or wanted here."

"We just came—"

"He doesn't want you here either," they said, cutting Logan off before he could even finish his sentence.

"All the same, I gotta hear it from him first, girls," Logan argued.

But before the Cuckoos could answer, there was a loud shout from inside the house as well as a crash. "O-kay! Telepathy is turned off but they are _looking at me and it's creeping me out!_ "

"On our way," Logan called back before he led the charge _through_ the three blondes, who simply scattered on seeing him rushing them. The three ferals made it past them, but they'd regrouped in time to try and stop Spidey from joining the other heroes. And it was clear Peter did not appreciate the hive-mind approach at all as they continued their creepy speaking-together routine as they surrounded him.

"How do you make them _stop that_?" Peter called out.

"Hit 'em real hard," Logan called back before Sebastian Shaw grabbed a hold of him and threw him across the room, half knocking the sense out of him.

"Right. Forgot who I was asking," Peter grumbled to himself, which had Tyler chuckling a bit as he ran over to try and help the creeped-out spider — though it was clear both Tyler and Peter were having a bit of trouble hitting the slight blonde girls.

Sebastian didn't give Logan any time to recover before he started working him over — and for the first time that Tyler had seen, Logan was taken off-guard nearly right off the bat. But that wasn't bound to last for too long as K made her way toward Shaw's blind spot like a freight train and did her level best to kick a field goal with his face.

"Hit them!" K shouted as she squared up with Shaw, who didn't look like he quite knew what to do with himself when he wasn't absorbing every blow landed on him. "I would trade you, but I'm being territorial."

That got a bit of a smirk from Tyler as he took the hint and seized one of the Cuckoos by the back of her shirt and tossed her toward K. "Here — I'll help with the trade."

Logan was getting to his feet as the little blonde squeaked mid-flight and K rushed Shaw to try and knock him back toward Tyler. She was hauling back to give him a right hook when she saw a black-haired woman trying to get up to the dampener. "Oh, that's a little too early in the game," K muttered, missing her shot at hitting Shaw but getting cracked in the mouth herself instead. She hit the ground hard and wasn't getting up nearly as quickly as she was used to — but that seemed to be exactly the fuel Logan _and_ Tyler needed to turn it around on Shaw fast and hard.

Tyler had tossed aside the other two Cuckoos on his way bounding over to Shaw — so Peter found himself free to spot Selene as she was trying to cut through his webbing. "Oh, no you don't!" he called out, webbing her hands to the wall quickly. "No, I had to sneak through the creepy castle to do that. I don't want to know about the looks _and_ the powers, no _thank you_."

While Logan headed toward Shaw with a snarl that did _not_ match his stance in the least, Tyler went over to help K upright and tried to check her over, shaking his head almost right away, convinced that Shaw had hit her hard enough to concuss her at least a little bit, since she wasn't quite responding like herself.

And with Tyler looking after K, Logan had gone entirely the opposite of his usual attack strategy and was nearly toying with Shaw with a highly-disciplined repertoire that used every little bit of martial arts that he knew — all but dancing around him as he delivered some wicked damage to one pressure point after another.

* * *

In the meantime, Kurt was with Remy and Rachel as they tried to locate their missing team leader. With the dampener on, it was no simple matter, as they couldn't just teleport from room to room and Rachel couldn't search out his mind, but Remy, on the other hand, had absolutely zero problems getting them _into_ each room, seeming to honestly enjoy the chance to stretch his lockpicking legs on some of the very old doors.

They were moving room to room as Rachel grew steadily more impatient at how long it was taking. But finally, they knew they'd found the right floor when they heard a bit of a commotion further down the hall.

"Stop playing games, Emma. Where is Annie?" they heard Scott half-shouting.

"There he is," Kurt said as all three of them broke into a run.

When they burst into the lavish room, they found Scott on his feet, though he was blindfolded, and shaking in rage. Emma was picking herself up when the trio of rescuers burst in, and whatever silky explanation she might have offered to Scott died on her tongue when she saw the X-Men.

Emma thrust out a hand, but whatever psychic attack she might have tried to use simply didn't work. In an instant, both Remy and Kurt had burst forward to tear her down, while Rachel went to Scott with a frown — she didn't have to be able to read his mind to know he was _livid_.

"It's me, it's Rachel," she said before she did anything else so that Scott knew what was going on, though he still looked half-unsure when she took his arm. "What's with the blindfold?"

"I can't control it," Scott said, and Rachel frowned harder at the tone in his voice. "I don't know what happened."

Rachel wasn't sure if it was part of Emma's games or if Scott really was having trouble. "It's okay; we've got a dampening field up."

He paused at that, clearly still half afraid to trust anything that was going on, but when he heard Emma cry out when Remy hit her with his bo staff, he seemed to decide she wasn't screwing with him for the moment and untied the blindfold.

"You okay?" she asked when he looked her way.

He nodded, the expression of pure fury obvious as he looked Emma's way even as Kurt hit her with the back of his hilt and she went sprawling to the floor. "Where's Annie?" he asked before he did anything else.

"Don' worry. Miss Annie back at de house with Miss Kate and de kids," Remy said with a sideways grin. "She's more worried 'bout you den anythin' else."

"Let's get you back to her," Kurt said with a nod, and the four of them burst out into the hallway at a run, ready to leave the house behind and get _out_.

* * *

While Logan seemed to be faring well, Spidey had again found himself surrounded by Cuckoos, and the girls had apparently remembered everything from Logan's self defense classes and were turning it on Spidey with a rather large amount of malice for having been called creepy. And Tyler made sure that K was sitting down away from the trouble while she still looked dazed and rushed to Spider Man's help to fight the girls.

But while they were distracted, Selene had been working hard at getting her hands free. She didn't pay K the least bit of attention as she got loose and then rushed to a desk in the sitting room nearby to rifle through it — retrieving the handgun that was hidden there.

She clearly wasn't entirely familiar with it, though, as she tried to take aim at the dampener webbed to the ceiling. Her first shot was wide, and it startled everyone in the room and seemed to wake K up a bit from her daze. Logan rushed forward and threw an elbow into Shaw's face to knock him out, and as he hit the ground, Selene turned her sights on him and tried to level the weapon his way.

She was just starting to pull the trigger when K launched herself at the vampire and disarmed her with an echoing crack that promised something was broken. Selene screamed and held her arm as K growled low in the middle of the room, glaring at her hard, though she was certainly still a bit punch drunk from the shot Shaw had landed on her earlier. Selene looked horrified at the fact that her injury had not yet healed, and she certainly didn't look like she wanted to take on the little feral without her powers, but K had already decided she wasn't going to put up with anyone else trying to take aim at her family and friends.

When Tyler saw K trying to circle Selene into a corner, he had to warn her. "You shouldn't be taking any more hits," he called out.

K barely looked his way before Selene struck her — the problem of course being that even though the Black Queen was a mutant, she was also a magic user. And seeing as she was unable to tap into her abilities, she used what she did have access to. Selene used her magic to fight K, and though K found her way around many of the little spells to get her shots in, it wasn't long before Selene simply got the upper hand.

The little feral found herself frozen to the spot as Tyler, Peter, and Logan all pushed hard to put the Cuckoos on the ground where they couldn't do any more damage than they already had. Logan had just knocked one out when a man's voice to his left called out, ordering him to stop fighting.

He frowned and turned toward the newcomer with a look of confusion as the man kept talking and approaching him slowly. Logan simply… watched, unsure what the heck this guy was on to be talking to him like that, When the guy got a little too close and told him to turn on Peter and Tyler, Logan began to growl an instant before he punched the guy square in the face. The adamantium-laced punch had some serious trouble behind it; the man's front teeth broke off, and he stumbled backward in total shock, his hand covering his mouth as he staggered and Logan approached him.

"Stop," he said to Logan, who simply growled lower and began to pull himself into a snarl. And at that, the man finally wised up, turned tail, and ran the other way, zipping out what Logan thought was an exit before very suddenly, he felt the familiar buzz of his healing factor working overtime, erasing his injuries.

Just like that, it struck him what kind of trouble his wife was likely in, and he flat out ran back toward where K had been fighting Selene.

* * *

In the hallway, Scott and the others quickly realized that the powers had been turned back on when they felt, for just a second, the prick of a psychic attack that was quickly quenched as Rachel turned with a cry of fury to face Emma, who looked absolutely furious that her plans had been interrupted.

Rachel didn't bother with defense; she jumped straight into offense and tore through Emma's psychic barriers, raw anger and a whole lot of pent-up "wish I'd done this ages ago" plowing right into Emma's head as she went, the edges of her attack searing and burning where she broke through.

Emma's defenses were good — of course they were — but they were melting in the face of Rachel's raw power. So instead, Emma went on the offensive, trying to provoke Rachel into either drawing back or losing her concentration. She poured memories into Rachel's mind of the years she'd spent with Scott — half of it real and half of it fantasies of what _else_ she would like to do just to get Rachel upset enough to lose her control. When Rachel did seem to shift her attention for a moment, Emma poured it on hotter — memories more than fantasies of what she was able to get away with, even what Jean had allowed without argument. And then memories of how she was already working to sow doubts in Scott's mind with his newest "plaything," as Emma described Annie — a way to win him back over as she always did when he felt he had no one.

 _I always get what I want._ That was the clear message — and she had the evidence to back it up.

But Rachel wasn't going to put up with that. She rallied — _hard._ And when she did, she threw back all the misery that she knew Emma had caused — all the discord, all the trouble. She made sure to show her how much the White Queen was distrusted by her father, how much happier he was with anyone _but_ Emma, and followed it up by turning Emma's own deeply-buried secrets and fears against her until she simply couldn't handle it and, with a gasp, shifted into her diamond form.

 _You have been getting what you want,_ Rachel projected to her as her eyes flashed with fire and she forced Emma out of her diamond phase. _But it's high time you got what you deserved._

Emma's eyes widened as she moved to block Rachel's continuing attack — and found that she simply couldn't. It wasn't even that she had no defenses; she couldn't find that control, that _sense_ that was her telepathy. Where she should have been able to reach it, her mind felt slippery, hard to hold on to, and she let out a shout. "You can't do this to _me_ ," she said in near disbelief.

"I already did," Rachel replied simply as a very widely smirking Remy decided to help her along by slamming the end of his bo staff into Emma's temple.

"It's high time we left dis place," he said Rachel's way. "I'm tinkin' we kin say we done what we came for an' more, _non_?"

" _Oui_ ," Rachel replied with a little smirk as she took Scott's arm — he was once again reluctant to risk opening his eyes the second he realized the powers were back on, and Rachel wasn't entirely sure herself what Emma had done when Emma's focus had been more on her broader plans than the specifics.

When Rachel, Kurt, Scott, and Remy made their way downstairs, they were in time to see Selene's exit as she simply dropped K in a heap, having taken what she wanted of her life force and stalking off. Tyler and Spidey both recoiled on her passing as Logan tried to rush toward Selene in a rage.

"I didn't kill her for you," Selene called out to Logan as her heels clicked against the marble floors. "I simply taught her a lesson for crossing me."

Logan turned to head back toward K, but before he could do much of anything, the group of heroes found themselves again under attack. Two of the Cuckoos had staggered back to their feet while the rest of the heroes were distracted by Selene — and what's more, it looked like more goons and reinforcements were coming to cover the Hellfire Club's exit.

With K down and Scott still unsure of his powers, Kurt decided to take the two of them out of the fight, teleporting first K and then Scott to the waiting blackbird.

"K had a run-in with Selene," he explained quickly as he led Scott to sit next to her. "Until we get her home, she'll need someone with her." He didn't give either of them a chance to protest as he disappeared again in a poof of smoke.

Scott let out a breath before he reached out until he found K's shoulder and gave her a reassuring squeeze. "You okay?"

"Sorry you're stuck here," she said quietly.

But he shook his head hard. "I'm sorry you had to come after me."

"I was hoping to even the score … but here we are."

"Yeah." He rested his hand on her arm and leaned back a bit.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "Or should I go limp off and stab someone for you?"

"Pretty sure the rest of the team has that covered," he said dryly.

"Are you saying they don't need us or you don't want me to go stab someone?"

"I'm saying they don't need a limping and half-drained teammate and a blind leader."

"Something happen to you back there?" K asked, shifting in her seat a bit to try and look him over better.

Of course, when she started to move, he tried to keep her from doing that, particularly when he could feel that she was shaking from the effort of trying to shift herself. "Hey — you should be resting. Selene's got a nasty bite," he said with a frown.

"Well, unless you're going to stop me …"

"You'll what — limp into battle and give her another snack?"

"Why not? I could stab a blonde on my way through," she replied.

"Don't," he said, sounding almost weary. "Just don't."

"Then tell me what's bothering you, or I'll go … to the back of the plane and be very quiet so you don't know if I'm here or not if you won't look at me."

He raised an eyebrow the slightest bit, his eyes still tightly closed as he gestured at his own face. "It's not obvious?"

"You don't smell like you were pepper sprayed, and if you were, it wears off faster if you _open_ your eyes."

"You really don't want me to do that," he said.

"Of course I do. You've got pretty eyes for a grump ass."

He took a deep breath and shook his head. "Not gonna risk it, K. Not until we get back and we can get somewhere I know I won't blast a hole in the blackbird — or in you."

"Well, how about I just wander over and get you a collar? Then you can babysit me properly. Tell me how awful I look. That kind of thing." She paused for a moment and got an idea. "Might even need to have you fly the rest of them home."

"That… might not be a bad idea," he admitted after a moment.

"Okay then; I'll be right back," she promised, already pushing away from him to work her way to the rear of the plane where all that junk was sitting for whoever needed it. She took her time, looking at all of them, sure to call out that she didn't realize so many of them were broken before she found one that actually _was_ broken but not easily discernible as being slashed or half cranked open.

When she got back, she simply handed it to him. "There you go. I won't put it on you, though. You have to do it yourself."

He almost smirked at her as he did it. "What — you actually get squeamish about something?"

"I don't want to endure the bondage jokes later," she clarified, half curling into her chair and feeling totally wiped out.

He leaned back and gave her a very dry look as he opened his eyes, though when he saw the way she was looking, he very quickly shifted from the dry look to one of more obvious concern. "You… yeah, you don't look so good," he said as he headed to one of the cabinets to get some of the emergency stash of food and water.

"I'll wait until we're back, thanks," she argued.

He handed her a water bottle anyway as he dropped back into the seat next to her. "Helps to rehydrate," he said simply.

"Just want to go to sleep," she said. "And Scott… take that stupid collar off. You don't need it, and you look ridiculous."

"I told you; I'm going to wait until we—"

"Scott … look me in the eyes," K said slowly, leaning toward him. When he raised both eyebrows but did just that, she smirked at him. "That collar is broken. You don't need it."

He stared at her for a moment, slightly wide-eyed, before looked almost angry. "You shouldn't have taken the risk."

"Rachel gave me the long and short before Kurt got me out — you're fine, outside of having one of the worst exes ever in the history of history."

He glared at her as he wrenched off the collar and shook his head. "Never did figure out how to get her to keep out of my powers," he muttered, mostly to himself.

"I'm sorry that I pulled a fast one on you," K told him. "Really. But after the job that witch pulled on you ... you don't need to go home with a complex."

"I'm fine. I just want to make sure we take the right precautions is all," he grumbled her way.

"I know," she said. "Shoot me if I made you that mad. You know... make sure it still works."

He rolled his eyes at her and then, just to do it, fired off a narrow beam that more or less melted the collar she'd used to trick him. "Seems to be working fine now."

"Good," she said with a tiny smirk. "So you can go help them if you want. I'm not going anywhere."

"They don't need me," Scott said, shaking his head.

"They might," she argued. "I'm just going to be sitting here; you don't need to stay here with me. Nothing really earth-shattering."

"If they need me, they'll call," Scott pointed out. "Told Kurt I'd look out for you. And besides, I could use a break myself." He tipped his head her way for just a second before he made himself more comfortable. "You going to sleep? I can get you a blanket."

"Yeah," she said quietly, her eyes already drifting shut. "Can't help it."

He smirked at her for a second before he got up to get a blanket and draped it around her shoulders for her. "You gonna fight me some more, or will you actually drink some of that water and go to sleep?"

"Do you want me to fight you some more?" she asked. "Because I was planning on just going to sleep."

He rolled his eyes. "Good _night_ , K."

"Sweet dreams, big guy," she replied. "Or … whatever."


	4. Scott Gets Debriefed

**Chapter 4: "Scott Gets Debriefed"**

When the group of X-Men returned from dealing with the Hellfire Club, Scott didn't make it more then five steps into the mansion before Charlie came running over to hug him around the knees.

"Mommy let us stay up and wait for storytime," she told him, looking up expectantly. "Miss Kate said she could read, but that's _your_ job."

Scott glanced up to see Kate half leaning in the doorway — waiting for Kurt — and when she met his gaze, she shrugged at him easily. "Not gonna argue with the mini boss."

He shook his head and then bent down to pick up Charlie, carrying her on his hip as he headed upstairs with her, past Logan, who was taking K upstairs as well. "Did you have a favorite story in mind?" he asked Charlie.

"Me and Chance picked out some," she said, nodding reasonably. "Elin help."

"Oh, is Elin sleeping over too?" he asked — not actually that surprised, since when there was a big team mission like this, most of the kids ended up all piled in one room together.

Charlie giggled and nodded before she leaned forward and whispered, "Krissy and Sying already sleepnin. They're littler and can't stay up late."

He nodded at that and set her down once they got upstairs to their rooms. Almost as soon as the door was open, Chance ran over to do the same thing his sister had done and hug Scott around the knees.

"Back from fightnin?" he asked with a perfectly open expression, and Scott nodded and ruffled the little boy's hair, looking past him to where Annie was sitting with Cody and quietly rocking with him as he was drifting off to sleep. Krissy and Sying, and Charlie had said, were already asleep, half snuggled together in the pile of blankets and pillows the kids had all thrown together while they were playing.

"Storytime," Charlie instructed Scott as she seized his hand and started to pull him to come and sit with them, and as soon as he was seated, all three of the kids who were still awake crawled into his lap and sides so they could see the pictures while he read.

Scott was about halfway through the book, with all three kids snuggled in contentedly, when he felt very small hands pulling on his pant leg and looked over to see that James had woken up and crawled his way over to them, pulling himself up to try and see what was going on and to be part of the excitement.

The kids scooted a bit when Scott reached down and scooped up the little guy. James nestled right into the snuggling as storytime continued — and Scott got through three books before the kids finally started to nod off.

Charlie stayed awake long enough to 'help' her dad tuck Elin and Chance into a snuggle and to watch him put James down too — complete with one very tired but very sloppy baby kiss on the cheek — before she gave him a little kiss and snuggled into the other side of her brother contentedly. Finally, once Annie had put Cody down as well, everyone younger than five was asleep and snuggled in, and Scott was ready to _sleep_.

Annie was already tucked into the covers and watched him for a moment as he finally changed out of his jeans. He hadn't even climbed in beside her fully before she finally couldn't help but ask, "What happened?"

He paused at her tone of voice and then let out a weary sigh. "Well, I found the people who sent us that crib," he said. "But I got too careless and got myself caught."

She crossed her arms for a moment as she sat up straighter and frowned at him. "I already know that," she said. "And I already know the team went to get you — and Kate told me who it was — but I don't know _who_ they are." She gave him a pointed look. "Don't try and keep back the details, either — tell me who and what the Hellfire Club is, or I'll ask Logan."

He met her gaze for a moment, and when she only looked all the more obstinate, he let out a little sigh. "They're… just about what you'd think from the name. Powerful people who want to control, well, everything they _can_ control," he tried to explain. "It ... would take a while to give you the history. They've been around for ages. They just…" He shrugged and sighed again. "They're just a pain to deal with, honestly. And the latest leadership is full of some of the most powerful telepaths in their generation."

She watched him for a second, thoughtfully. "Well, that explains why Rachel looked like she was ready to kill someone," she said with a little smile.

"Yeah, Rachel has never gotten along with them. And with their White Queen in particular," Scott said, shaking his head.

"The White Queen?"

"Emma Frost," he explained. He closed his eyes and leaned back in the pillows and shook his head the slightest bit. "I'm sure since the whole club was involved, they had a reason to catch our attention, but … I didn't exactly find that out."

"Maybe one of the others — maybe Rachel could tell you tomorrow," Annie offered.

"Yeah."

Annie waited, but when Scott didn't say anything else and seemed to simply be ready to drift off to sleep, she sat up on her elbow and tapped him in the center of the chest. "Hey." She tapped him again until he opened his eyes. "What _happened_? You've told me the who, you don't know the why, now give me the what. Or isn't that what you've been telling your team for debriefs?"

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Are you debriefing me?" he asked, almost with a smirk.

"Don't make me," she shot back, with a little heat. "I shouldn't have to. I'm your wife, and you should just tell me these things. You shouldn't have to _report_ to me, but I will run it that way if you don't stop… ugh." She waved her hand as she gestured at him, and he really couldn't help but smirk at her.

"Really, Annie. I'm fine." He sat up a bit as he gestured at himself. "Really. I didn't need Tyler either — I'm _fine_."

But that didn't help his case at all as Annie glared at him openly, now sitting up and throwing off the covers.

"Where are you going?" he asked, but she didn't answer except to grab him as well, half dragging him out of their room on the way outside until they got to the grounds and she turned to face him again, livid and wearing nothing but her pajamas in the middle of the garden.

"Stop lyin' to me right _now_ , Scott Summers," she said, and he very quickly understood why she had dragged him outside when he heard the heat in her voice as she raised it at him — something she had never really done before. "I am too tired to drag it out of you, but I will, and you will _not_ like me if I have to spend all night tryin' to knock sense into your thick head."

"Annie, I'm really fine—"

"No. What did I just say about lying?" She had her arms crossed and looked simply furious with him. "A club full of telepaths and Emma Frost — you're not fine. I don't care if you say you are, and I don't care if you don't have a scratch on you. I'm _not_ stupid, Scott."

He watched her for a moment before he finally let out a sigh. "Really, it's fine now. Emma ... had me convinced I couldn't control my powers again. Her way of keeping me there, since I couldn't see."

Annie's glare softened the slightest bit, but she was still watching him carefully, her arms crossed. "That was a dirty trick," she said at last, still with plenty of heat to her tone, though it was no longer directed at Scott.

"Yeah, it was," he agreed.

She let out all her breath and shrugged her shoulders up high before she grabbed him by the hand and took him through the garden so they could sit down on Ororo's hanging swing. She didn't drop her gaze or his hand as she seemed to be thinking over what to say, until finally: "That's not what's got you upset. You've have problems with your powers before, and it didn't have you lookin' like you do now." When he looked away for a moment, unable to meet her gaze, she snapped her fingers under his nose. "Hey. How d'you expect me to stand by my vow to stand by your side if I don't know what kinda hailstorm we're lookin' at?" she asked sharply.

"It's not—"

"I swear to you, Scott, if you try an' lie to me again and tell me that you're not walkin' around looking like a kicked puppy, I will find a way to drag you nine ways to Kingdom Come until you come clean, and then I'll get Logan involved." She was getting pretty worked up as she huffed. "And we'll have the whole get together at my dad's."

He didn't meet her gaze as she fumed at him, but it was clear that she wasn't going to let him try to play it off, either, so he finally just let out a long breath. "I thought you were there with me," he said so quietly that it actually stopped Annie in her tirade. "I couldn't control my powers, and if I'd opened my eyes, I could have hurt you."

Some of the heat left her gaze as she stared at him for a moment. "It wasn't real," she said, matching his soft tone at last. "I'm fine — your powers are working-"

"They're working right now," he said. He finally looked up to meet her gaze, and she stopped cold when she saw the open expression there. "Do you know what happens if they stop working again, even for a second? If I lose control and I'm looking at you ... or the kids … it would only take one second of letting my guard down or losing my grip, and that would be it."

"But that's not a problem anymore," she said quietly, reaching for his other hand to take it in hers. "Tyler fixed that. You have to concentrate to _fire_ , not the other way around." When Scott still had that look on, though, she sighed and scooted closer, releasing one of his hands to tap him in the center of the chest again. "If you think for a second I'd let you put any of our kids in danger, you completely missed everythin' that's happened in the last five years."

"You don't know. You haven't seen — I've leveled buildings with a look, Annie. If I ever lost control again, you and the kids—"

"You — do you think I'm gonna love you any less?" Annie challenged. "Or that I suddenly don't trust you around our kids? Or that the parents of all the kids in a giant snuggle pile in our room don't trust you with _theirs_?"

"Annie, you were terrified!" he said, with a bit of heat.

"I hate to be the one to break it to you, but you said yourself it _wasn't me!_ "

"This time!" He shook his head. "I couldn't even look at you — and I couldn't get us out—"

"So that's your fear of what I _might_ do, and I'm tellin' you right now that's not how it'd ever go down _if_ it were to ever go down." She looked almost furious. "Which it _won't._ "

"You can't tell me that," he challenged. "With everything that's happened, all the people that have come after me, coming after you…"

"Yes, I can," she said, shaking her head as she gave him a much more sympathetic look. "When I met you, you said you couldn't control it because of an injury - an injury you no longer have. And even now? At the slightest sign of trouble, you close your eyes and reach for your glasses. You don't have to keep them, but you do. You always have them on you. So where were they? Or did she take them from you?"

He stared at her for a moment, losing a lot of his heat. "I ... didn't have them. She must have ... there was a blindfold instead. It was the only thing I had."

"You are _always_ prepared for every scenario. That should have been your tip off that things weren't right," Annie pointed out.

"Actually, the first tip off was that you were crying and _hurt_ ," he said, wide-eyed. "And it's not like it's unbelievable. The kinds of people we deal with… they took my comm, my badge, figures they'd take the glasses." He reached for her for a moment to push back some of her hair. "You were hurt, Annie. And scared — of me. And there wasn't a thing I could do about it. There's never been a thing I can do about it. I've got enough power to level a street block — and here I am pretending I can just be _normal_."

She shook her head with a sigh and pulled him into a kiss. "Why in the world would you want to be normal?"

"I just want you to be safe," he told her honestly, leaning his forehead against hers. "You deserve to be safe. You deserve someone who doesn't bring down danger on your head every few months."

"And here I am just wantin' you to be happy," she replied, tracing her fingers down his face.

"I am!" he promised quickly. "Really. This… you…the school… the kids... I really don't deserve any of it. But I _am_ happy."

"I could have sworn you were arguin' the other side of this very conversation not too long ago," she said with a tone that sounded almost airy.

"That's different," he said, shaking his head against hers.

"I don't see how."

"Annie, how can I be expected to run a school that teaches control when I can't even _trust myself_?" he asked. "They're trusting me to teach them, to lead them ... you're trusting me not to let what I do take over our family, and… I don't think I can."

"If you don't want to be here, or it's too much stress, I'm sure we can just go back to Alaska … or somewhere more south."

"Would that make you happy?" He leaned back a bit to look at her. "You don't want to go to Alaska. But Theresa's in Atlanta… If you don't want to risk things here…"

"I am happy here, but if you want to break your son's heart, we'll go wherever you want," she said, raising a single eyebrow as her tone turned more sarcastic. "I'm sure it won't be as bad as when the ferals were gone."

"No," he said quietly. "No; you and Chance would hate leaving." He let out a breath and then leaned into her. "I'm sorry, Annie. I'm trying."

"You've been doin' a wonderful job until you started doubtin' yourself," she told him.

He let out a breath of a laugh and shook his head. "I'm sorry. I'm tired. And I just… couldn't deal with scaring you." He squeezed her hand in his and paused for a long moment. "It's not the first time she's done something like this — made me think she was someone else. I should have seen through it. I'm sorry."

"I guess we'll just have to find a way to deal with that woman before she tries some of these rotten mind tricks again," Annie said reasonably. "Seems to me like the X-Men should be able to deal with one uppity witch."

"You'd think so," he said with a small smirk. "Problem is we used to let her run the place." He leaned his head on her shoulder and let out all his breath. "It's fine."

"It will be."

He smiled at her for just a second before he stood up and picked her up. "We'll probably both do a little better with some sleep. It's ridiculous being out here in your nightclothes, Annie," he told her with a small smirk as he started to carry her back inside.

* * *

K knew that the Summers clan was headed down to breakfast because, as usual, they were preceded by their chipper morning children.

Both Chance and Charlie came giggling and bursting into the kitchen and headed almost right for Elin so they could start playing and being their usual adorable selves. Scott and Annie weren't far behind, and Scott had little Cody snuggled in one arm as he held the door open for Annie, who caught K's gaze for a second as an unreadable expression passed over her face before she turned her attention to making breakfast for the small army that was their family.

"Want a hand, Annie? So you can have a seat," K asked. "You did just have a baby like five minutes ago. I'm told recovery takes longer than a few minutes."

Annie snorted a little laugh but waved her over. "You're welcome to help," she said with a sly smile. "You're one of the few people I trust in this kitchen."

"Take a load off," K told her as she refilled her mug.

Annie gratefully sat down after she'd poured both of the twins some cereal and gotten some eggs started — and toast in the toaster — and basically barely listened to K. "I'm trying to recover a bit faster," she told K. "I could use a good workout routine. I was thinking about starting up some self-defense again. Those last few months took it out of me, and I'd like to get it back."

"Well, I'm sure we can figure something out," K replied as she worked up some French toast for the little ones. "Plenty of people willing to help you out."

"Yes, but I liked the classes I took with you — if you can find the time," Annie said quickly, dropping her voice to a whisper.

"I can find the time," K replied just as quietly. "Something special you have in mind to work toward or just …"

She glanced over her shoulder at Scott, who was wrapped up in Cody for the time being, before she turned back to K. "That woman — the one who… the one who used to ... " She shook her head. "The White Witch. I want to give her what-for."

"Okay, yeah. I can get on board for that," K said, nodding. "He got so mad at me on the plane for about five seconds."

"Only five seconds?" She smirked for a moment. "He was mad at me for longer than that. I must have pushed him harder."

"I was looking pretty pitiful at the time, I'm sure," K confessed.

"I did hear you were hurt," Annie said. She shook her head. "I don't know much about these people, but I do know that woman hurt him. And that's just… I'm not gonna let her get away with it." She almost absently reached down to catch Charlie before she would have toppled out of her chair reaching to play with Chance.

K watched the motion and nodded again. "Naptime then?"

"Yes, please," Annie said. "If what Scott told me about these people is even half of what he knows ... they're not going to just let… whatever this is drop. I want to help make them regret it."

* * *

After Annie and K had showered off, they headed out of the Danger Room together all smiles. It had been a good hour or so — and Annie was starting to get back into all that she'd been learning before Cody came along, her muscles and memory kicking in after a while. K made sure to pace her easily — and to revert to something less strenuous when Annie looked like she was wearing out too fast — but it was clear from start to finish that Annie was absolutely determined.

"You're actually not as far out of it as you thought," K told her as they finished up with some blocks.

"Good," Annie said, pulling her hair up into a ponytail as they walked together. "I don't want to think I'm a remedial student for you," she added with a little teasing smile.

"I'd tell you if you were," K promised.

Annie chuckled a bit at that and nodded as they made their way down the hall, though they hadn't quite made it to the elevators when Scott stepped out — on his way to the Danger Room himself.

He stopped when he saw the two women and raised an eyebrow. "What are you two grinning about?" he asked with a smirk.

"Nothing," Annie said easily, finishing tying off her hair before she gave Scott a huge, beaming grin.

"Better question would be why _aren't_ you grinning?" K asked with her very best innocent expression.

He shrugged and smiled a bit. "I've been told I have a serious thinking face," he said easily.

"You do," K agreed. "Tell me, oh, hero mine — did you need a sparring partner?"

"Actually, I'm supposed to meet Kurt in about five minutes — just thought I'd get here early and get things set up," he said with a shrug. "You're welcome to join in if you want."

"Oh, I don't want to interrupt your boys' time if that's what you're up to," K said with a little shake of her head. "I'm supposed to work over ... or … work _with_ Logan later."

"Oh no, I'm sure the first description is far more accurate," Scott said, smirking a bit wider.

"Well, whatever you say," she replied. "Annie and I were talking about making Kate something special tonight. Spicy."

"She'd probably appreciate it," Scott said, the smirk turning into a genuine smile. "She's been a bit… well, miserable lately." He looked a bit sheepish as he looked Annie's way and then gave her a very quick kiss. "You should get the kids involved. That was adorable."

"You say that like they're not going to invite themselves anyway," Annie said with a little grin before she popped up on her toes to kiss his cheek and then waved at him. "Have fun with Kurt; we'll take care of Kate and Krissy," she called out to him before she and K headed to the elevators, both of them still grinning.

But they hadn't gotten very far at all when Krissy and Charlie came running up to them almost as soon as they stepped off the elevators. Charlie had her face all scrunched up and was crying a little bit as she showed her mom her scraped elbow, while Krissy looked very, very worried for her friend.

"Oh, what happened?" Annie asked as she scooped up the upset little girl.

"It was axe-dent!" Krissy said before Charlie could say anything. She was holding her tail, which K saw now, looked a little bruised. "I din _mean_ to!"

Annie looked between the two girls and tried to do her best to calm Charlie's crying first as the sniffling little girl said, "Krissy trip me!"

"I din _mean_ to!" Krissy said again, stomping her foot.

K picked up Krissy before she could get too much more worked up. "I'm sure you didn't mean to," she told her as she snuggled the little elfling to her shoulder.

With both of the little girls swept up with K and Annie, they started to settle out a bit, though Charlie was still very concerned over her scraped elbow. "I bleednin," she insisted, which just got Krissy worried all over again.

"I sowwy!" she said, half buried in K's shoulder.

"Did she trip over your tail?" K guessed, half rocking her.

Krissy nodded and looked miserable. "I din _mean_ to. I din see her!"

"And that little tail has a mind of its own — your dad told you that, right?"

Krissy nodded but still looked miserable. "I don wike it," she told K with a serious frown.

"Well, I love it," K told her. "I know it makes you mad sometimes, but you're just perfect — and so is your tail."

"No it's not," Krissy said with wide eyes. "It got step on." She reached over with one little hand to grab the offending tail. "See?"

"Are you hurt too?" K asked, brushing the hair out of her face.

Krissy nodded. "I got step on," she said again, a little quieter this time as her eyes welled up with tears.

That had K snuggling her a bit harder. "You want to go see Logan or Dad?"

"I see Papa?" she asked, brightening a bit.

"If you want," K said, nodding. "He's just getting ready to play with Scott. I'm sure he'd give you a kiss before they get too far into it."

Krissy beamed at that and nodded. "Peease. I see Papa."

"You got it, sweetheart," K told her before she looked over at Annie. "See you two in a little bit."

"You got it," Annie said with a small smile. "We're just going to go get a Minnie Mouse Band-Aid."

K snuggled Krissy all the way down to the control room for the Danger Room. The guys were just deciding what they wanted to do first when K tapped on the glass to catch their attention, and it was obvious even from where they were that Krissy had been crying.

In an instant, Kurt had teleported up to the booth. "What happened, _Prinzessin_?" he asked as Krissy held out her arms and he scooped her up, though once she had her dad and she was no longer worried about being in trouble for tripping Charlie, she simply started to cry on his shoulder for a moment.

K leaned on the board and pressed the intercom button, giving Scott a little wink and holding up one finger over her lips so he could hear the drama.

"I din mean to, Papa," Krissy sniffled miserably as Kurt tried to comfort the very upset little girl, though he looked K's way with a sort of 'help me' expression — since he didn't know what it was Krissy didn't mean to do.

"The girls were playing, and Charlie tripped on Krissy's tail. Both of them got a little scraped up," K explained. "She's a little bit mad at her tail right now."

Kurt looked down at the upset little girl, who was still holding her tail in one clenched fist and glaring at it. "I'm sure you didn't mean to trip Charlie," Kurt told her gently. "It was an accident, _ja_?"

" _Ja_ ," Krissy said sullenly. "I din mean to. But my tail is _mean_."

Kurt raised both eyebrows at that. "You think your tail tripped Charlie on purpose?" he asked.

Krissy nodded. "I don' _want_ it," she whined very loudly. "I don' _want_ a tail!"

Kurt gently kissed her forehead before he reached around with his own tail to tickle her tummy gently with the very tip. "But you like my tail, _Prinzessin_ ," he pointed out.

"Yours is nice," Krissy said stubbornly. She still has hers clenched in a little fist. "Mine trip Charlie!"

Kurt smiled and kissed her forehead again. "You just need to learn how to work with yours, _liebling_ ," he said softly. "When I was little, I had a mean tail too."

"Nu-uh!"

"Yes, I did," he said, nodding solemnly so she could see that he was serious. "And it took me a long time to learn how to use it. But you're lucky — do you know why?"

She scrunched up her nose. "Why?"

"Because you have a papa who knows about mean tails," he explained, tipping her chin up with his own tail. "And you have lots of friends and family who can help you learn. Even if you mess up sometimes — and even if your tail is mean."

"It _hard_ ," Krissy complained, and Kurt laughed and had to nod at that.

"Yes, it is." He kissed her forehead. "But you know how Sying has to be careful when he plays with you and the others? He has special gifts, just like you. And so do K and Scott — and so do so many of your other friends." He booped her in the nose. "We're all learning, _liebling_. Even I am still learning."

She giggled and shook her head at him. "Nu-uh. You know evvything."

Kurt laughed again and shook his head. "Well, I only know about mean tails and how to tell good bedtime stories," he teased her. She was starting to settle down, and he wiped the tears from the fur underneath her eyes. "I'm sure Charlie knows it was an accident. Why don't you go tell her you are sorry for your very mean tail and tell her you are still learning. I'm sure she wants to play with you still."

Krissy looked up at Kurt with wide eyes. "But I hurted her!"

"You didn't mean to, _liebling_ ," he assured her. He smiled a bit wider as he added, "And when you are older, and you can work with your tail a little better, you and Charlie can play _with_ your tail." He scooted a bit closer to K so that he could wrap his tail around Krissy and then carry her to where K was to hold her out. "See? Can you give K a kiss?"

Krissy giggled delightedly and kissed K on the forehead before Kurt brought her back to him and gave her a warm hug. "You just keep working on that mean tail, and you'll be just fine," he promised.

She nodded thoughtfully for a moment before she took a deep breath, wiped her tears, and hugged him around the neck before she scooted to be let down. "We find Charlie?" she asked K.

"Yep, I know just where she is," K said. "Want to say hi to Uncle Scott?"

Krissy nodded. "Inna tell him I sowwy I hurt Charlie."

"You go right ahead," K told her. "Just come closer to the glass so he can see you better."

Krissy nodded determinedly and came over to the glass to wave at Scott for a moment, waiting until he waved back to half-shout, "I sowwy!"

But Scott smiled at her and shook his head. "It's okay," he promised. "It was an accident. Charlie is okay."

Krissy nodded a couple times and then gave him a shy smile. "Inna fix it," she promised. "I give Charlie hugs and kisses."

Scott nodded up at her. "I'm sure she'd appreciate it."

Krissy beamed and bounced the slightest bit before she turned back to K. "Otay! Find Charlie?"

"Yep. Wanna piggy back ride?" K asked.

"Peease!" Krissy giggled and held both hands up.

K picked her up and helped her climb around to her back. "Okay — wave to the guys; we'll see them in a little bit."

Krissy giggled and waved to both of them — and blew a kiss at her dad — before she held on around K's shoulders and started to laugh to herself. As they headed back to meet up with Annie and the other kids, Krissy told K in a whisper, "Inna get a nice tail."

"You're just going to have to train that one to behave like I train the horses at the barn," K whispered back.

"It hard," Krissy said, poking out her lip a bit.

"Yeah, but you know the rules that I use out there … they might work here too."

Krissy giggled. "My tail not a horse!"

"No, but the rules work for everything. Ask often. Demand nothing, and reward generously."

"Otay," Krissy said, wrinkling up her nose a bit. She thought about it for a second. "Maybe… maybe I get it _next_ birthday. I big then."

K nodded and tried to get a giggle out of her by tickling her feet as they slipped into the kitchen — where Annie and Charlie were all finished up with bandaids and kisses.

Krissy quickly squirmed and wiggled to be let down as she all but ran over to give Charlie a hug and a kiss of her own. "I sowwy!" she said very sincerely.

Charlie looked a lot better now that she had her Minnie Mouse Band-Aid, and she grinned at Krissy. "It okay," she assured the younger little girl. "Mommy said we can make food!"

Krissy looked excited at that and looked up at Annie. "I help?" she asked, and Annie laughed and nodded.

"Yes, of course," Annie said. She tipped her head toward where Elin and Chance were playing cars with Sying close by James and Cody — both of whom were in their own little play pen, suitable for their ages. "Do you think you could ask them if they want to help too?"

"Mmhmm!" Krissy nodded and scampered off to go invite the others to help in the kitchen as both Annie and K got started with setup. She beamed at Elin when she got there. "Ellie — bwing boys! We helpnin cook food!"

"I help?" Sying asked, and Krissy nodded enthusiastically.

Elin pulled Sying along, and the little ones climbed up so they could see what was going on and try to help too. And it wasn't long at all before the whole group of them were happily working away under K and Annie's direction.


	5. Don't Piss Off Annie

**Notes: I mean... you know this is Scott Summers, right? He's, like... the king of insecurities. With good reason. I mean, he spent his whole life until _very_ recently with _no_ control. Of course control is a worry for him! It's a valid concern.**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: "Don't Piss Off Annie"**

* * *

Noh and Jubilee were curled up on the couch keeping an eye on Krissy and Sying, who were happily sharing some of the toys Krissy had received for her birthday. Noh and Jubilee both had one earbud apiece as they were listening to some of Noh's favorite music, though it was clear that Sying had inherited his father's musical tastes, because his enhanced hearing picked up some of the songs and he was clearly humming along.

"No, dat one mine," Krissy insisted when Sying reached over to play with one of her toys. She pushed a different one his way. " _This_ yours."

Sying stopped humming as he realized his mistake in breaking from the carefully delineated system Krissy had set up to share her toys, and he quickly picked up the one she had offered instead.

Noh chuckled as he watched the exchange. "Should I be worried he cannot stand up for himself?" he asked Jubilee only half-seriously.

"Have you seen him argue with me over bedtime? He's _fine_ ," Jubilee replied without missing a beat.

Noh smiled at her and very gently pulled her to him, quietly singing along with the words to the music playing in their ears before the comm at his hip chirped the slightest bit, and he looked down to check it.

"Someone is at the gate," he told Jubilee, giving her a little kiss as he took the earbud out of his ear and stood up. "This should only take a moment. Most of our problems do not come to the front gate. Perhaps it's just one of Kate's authors who has forgotten the code again."

He zipped past the door and headed out to the gate, where he was surprised to see that there was just a single man standing there, covered in purple not only in his clothing but in his skin. "Can I help you?" he asked, not sure if he had ever seen this person before.

The man nodded Noh's way. "Yes. Open the gate and leave it unlocked — and go ahead and turn off the other security measures around the grounds while you're at it."

Noh wanted to just laugh at his audacity — but instead, he found that he was unlocking the gate and letting the man through. What's more, before he even realized what was happening, he was _running_ at top speed. It was more than just compliance with the man's request — he was making a fast, good job of it, and he didn't know _why_.

When he was finished, he simply stared at what he had done, shocked outright. He didn't understand ... Tony had helped him make his mind hard to infiltrate. This should have been much more difficult.

"You okay, Bug Boy?" Logan asked as he and K came up from the Danger Room.

"No," he said honestly. He looked up at Logan with wide eyes. "We have a security breach. Possibly multiple."

"What happened?" Logan asked. "And where's the trouble?"

"I don't know," Noh said, still wide-eyed and completely out of his element. "I don't know the answer to either of those questions."

"Maybe you should get the kids down to the Danger Room," K offered.

"Yes, I think that would be best." Noh let out a breath. "Logan, my friend ... I _let them in_."

"Why?" he asked, already in motion to go fight. "Wait. Nevermind, we'll deal with it later. Get everyone safe _now._ "

Noh nodded quickly and zipped off, rushing to grab the two little ones who had been playing with him and Jubilee before he found the little group of Summerses and Howletts playing together as well — this time with Annie and Kate.

"We need to get to the Danger Room," he told the two women, and a couple of the bamfs who had been snitching bits of Kate's snack food nodded very quickly and teleported them straight down.

When Noh caught up with Logan and K, they were almost to the door, and half the mansion was on alert as Storm and Remy rushed to get the students to safety as well — since they didn't know what or who was attacking them.

"Be wary. They have a means of control that I don't yet understand," Noh told them both earnestly. "I don't know how that man was able to order me to turn off the security systems, and I don't know if it was specific only to me."

"Relax, Noh," K said. "We'll figure it out later. Let's just get this done."

When they got out onto the grounds, Noh pointed out the man in purple — but what was more concerning was the fact that there were plenty of guys coming in toward the mansion from all directions. And there were three very familiar blondes.

"Well this sucks," Logan muttered. "We gotta take the girls down — again."

"That much I can do," Noh said as he headed for the three girls, though he was a few feet away when the man in purple spotted him and shrugged almost lazily his way.

"Oh you're back. Why don't you go find that leader of yours and bring him out for a chat?"

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Logan half barked out.

The man simply grinned their way as Noh headed back to the mansion, looking wide-eyed but still running right back the way they'd come. "Oh, I'm sure you haven't heard of me," he said. "But you will. If you survive." He grinned wickedly. "Fight each other -—with everything you've got."

The growls split the air with a ferocity that had even the creep in purple jumping a bit as the little couple tore into each other viciously. He had to step back simply because, though Logan was the more adept fighter, K was _much_ nastier with the dirty tricks.

"What's going _on_ out here?" Scott asked as he stepped out of the mansion, his eyes wide as he clearly had no idea what to make of the scene in front of him. Noh was behind him with a similarly wide-eyed expression.

"Oh you are prompt, aren't you?" the man in purple said with a wide smile, skirting around the fight as the rest of the group spread out across the mansion, engaging the X-Men — except for the three Cuckoos and, Scott could see coming up the driveway, Emma.

"We need to leave," Noh said low to Scott, and Scott turned to him for a moment.

"You just—"

"I know what I said."

"Come now, no mumbling," the stranger said. "Share with the rest of us now."

"I told him we need to leave," Noh said without hesitation — and then looked very frustrated.

"And I want to know why he brought me here only to tell me to leave," Scott added, then glanced at Noh as he very quickly understood what Noh's fear was.

"Oh, no one's going anywhere just yet," the man replied. "Not when we have such lovely entertainment — though we are missing someone important."

Noh and Scott glanced at each other and seemed to be decide that they really didn't want to know who it was this man was after. Scott went to blast the guy, and Noh's bracelets morphed into guns — but the second they moved, all three Cuckoos sent the two of them to their knees before they could do anything.

The man in purple walked leisurely toward Scott and Noh and then stooped over toward them. "It's my understanding that your daughter is a bit of a prodigy in many things, is that right?"

"Go to hell," Scott told him.

"Well that's not very pleasant of you, is it now?" He tutted a bit and then simply went for the direct route. "Tell Rachel Daddy's in trouble again."

Scott frowned hard all the way through the motion as he reached for his comm. "Rachel," he said. "I'm in trouble."

There was a long pause before Rachel replied, "Alright, I'm on my way." But she reached out with her mind to contact him. _What's going on?_

 _The Hellfire Club has a new member. And they're looking for you,_ Scott replied. _This guy ... I don't think he's a telepath. Don't come down; they wouldn't have brought him if they didn't think he could handle you._

"He's speaking with her right now," Emma said with a smug smile over the purple man's shoulder. She looked Scott's way for a moment, and the smile widened. "Tell her to come down here and fix what she did to me — or everything I showed her last time we met, and anything else my good friend here can come up with, is going to happen."

"You're not the one calling the shots here, Emma," Scott shot back with a glare. "I'm sure that drives you nuts — having to play second fiddle to someone else."

"Underestimating me, Scott? Really?" She clucked her tongue at him. "I really thought you knew me better than that."

"I have to ask — does the rule for the X-Men apply at this moment?" Noh asked Scott — aloud, since the purple man had told them not to mumble.

"If it did, Logan and K wouldn't have been put at each other's throats," Scott replied.

"Then as soon as we are through here, I won't have to worry about breaking my promise to you," Noh surmised, his gaze darting between the members of the Hellfire Club and Logan and K, growing more concerned when he saw K take a hard hit that she seemed slower to recover from.

"Tell them to stop fighting," Scott told Emma, following Noh's gaze for a moment. "You don't need them fighting each other — you just need them not to stop you. You can do that without having them tear each other apart."

"Don't you remember, Scott? I'm not the one calling the shots — and neither are you," she said with a self-satisfied smirk before she paused and raised a hand to her head and frowned hard, spinning on her heel to face the man in purple. "She's coming — but she's reading my thoughts to try to learn more about you. We need better leverage."

"The lion match has inspired me…" He turned toward Noh. "Get his wife. Let's make both of them fight until little Princess Rachel comes down," the man in purple said, inclining his head to Noh, who zipped back inside with that same horror-struck expression as he ran down to the Danger Room.

He was still wide-eyed when the doors opened and he saw Kate and Annie with the little ones, all of them playing with some of the toys a couple bamfs had brought down to keep the kids from freaking out — and both women looked up in alarm when they saw the look on Noh's face as he simply scooped Annie up.

He looked toward Kate pleadingly as he adjusted his hold on Annie. "Please — send help to the front of the mansion. A man there is controlling us — making us fight each other and especially our spouses. Call _fast_ ," he said before he ran off with Annie, leaving a very upset Kate as she reached for her comm to immediately start trying to find someone who wasn't busy with the goons the Hellfire Club had brought to play.

Noh set Annie down very gently when he arrived, looking incredibly apologetic, though he did make it a point to set her down behind him so that he was between Annie and Scott. Annie looked around when he set her down, her gaze traveling over to the fight first, of course, to the blood everywhere, and then settling on Emma. She _glared_ outright and, before anyone could say or do anything, Annie grabbed the nearest thing she could throw — a toy one of the kids had left outside — and chucked it at Emma on her way stalking over. And though the Cuckoos quickly put her on her knees as well, it didn't stop her from half-shouting, "Worthless little... Walked right out of the red light district to come to _my house_?"

"It won't be your house for much longer when you're dead and gone," Emma said with a glare before she circled around to the paralyzed X-Men and traced the edges of her fingers over Scott's shoulders. "Powers back on, I think. It won't be a long fight, but it will be fun to watch," she told the man in purple.

The purple man grinned like it was the best suggestion he'd heard all day. "Fight each other — no holds barred," he said to Annie and Scott. "Don't hold anything back."

Scott was looking openly horrified as he took aim, but to the surprise of everyone there, Annie was the one to make the first move, diving aside to all but kick Emma into Scott's path so that the blonde woman was forced to dive out of the way to avoid being a human shield for Annie as Scott sent a blast her way. But Annie kept going, using the distraction to run toward Scott, though she did have to dodge out of the way one more time before she managed to get to him and wrap her legs around his middle, positioning herself behind him so that he couldn't reach her with the optic beams. Now, it was a bit of a wrestling match as he tried to get her off his back and she held onto him tighter, both arms around his neck.

The Cuckoos, Emma, and the purple man all looked simply shocked at this turn of events as Scott scrambled to loosen Annie's hold, trying to throw her over his shoulder, but she had locked herself around him tightly and clung on tighter with his every attempt. And across the lawn, Logan was clearly fighting the order he'd been given, though he still couldn't quite stop himself and was nearly shaking in frustration as he sent a fist full of claws through K's chest; she wasn't fighting him anymore.

That was the state of affairs when Rachel finally made her way out the front door. It was obvious what had taken her so long when they saw that she had borrowed Noh's music player, the earbuds in her ears playing the Ronettes so loudly that she wouldn't be able to hear a thing. She quickly took in the scene, and the first thing she did was to telekinetically separate Logan from K, pulling him back and all but tossing him across the lawn to give K a little space before she turned her attention to the other fight going on — as Annie had taken Scott to the ground to choke him out.

Rachel could see the man in purple saying something to her, and she could feel the psychic assault of all three Cuckoos, but she couldn't hear anything at all. Instead, she reached into his mind — and was surprised to find that there was _already_ a foreign presence there.

"Much as I hate doing a favor for a Class A jerk," she muttered to herself before she pushed the Cuckoos out of his head and then pulled the same strings they had been pulling to countermand the purple man's orders.

"Stop fighting, all of you," the purple man called out — though Rachel, of course, couldn't hear it.

As soon as the order to stop fighting came through, Logan ran back to K, of course, swearing up a blue streak at the damage he'd done. Noh was there a moment later, too, and he glanced at Logan. "I can take her to Hank," he offered.

"Go," he said, not bothering to finish his thought — because he knew that Noh would be faster, and he really wanted to gut the guy in purple now.

Of course, the purple man seemed to have realized that the tables had turned — and while Rachel had taken a few moments to turn her attention to the Cuckoos before they could do anything else, the man in purple turned tail to run, calling out an order not to follow him or try to stop him that was frustrating to everyone there.

Annie, meanwhile, had unwrapped herself from her now-unconscious husband and was simply shaking in rage as she launched herself right at Emma Frost. The tall blonde hadn't seen Annie coming and hit the ground hard, and Annie took further advantage of that as she knelt on Emma and started to lay into her with everything she had.

Logan watched for a moment before he looked between Rachel and the Cuckoos, shook his head, and left — with Scott tossed over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.

Annie clearly wasn't anywhere near finished with Emma, either, even after Rachel had sent all of the Cuckoos crashing down. "You come anywhere near _my_ family again — you even _look_ at my daughter or my husband or _any of my kids_ —" she was saying through her attack, punctuating each statement with a hard blow as Emma tried unsuccessfully to get out from under the furious Southern woman.

When Annie finally got in a hit hard enough to knock Emma unconscious, she looked up at Rachel and straightened up the slightest bit. "I'm sorry — did you want to have a turn?" she asked, some of her usual sweet tone coming back.

But Rachel was smiling at her. "No, no. That was just fine," she said. She gestured to the three Cuckoos. "They needed the same treatment that I gave Emma. In case you were wondering, Logan took Dad to Hank."

"Thanks." Annie stood up and tried ineffectually to wipe some of the blood from her hands and from her bruised knuckles. "Would you like to go with me to see him?" she offered.

"Someone needs to stick around for SHIELD to pick up the garbage," she replied. "But I'll be down soon enough."

"Hopefully, he wakes up fast, but I almost want you to be there when he does," Annie admitted sheepishly. "I… didn't mean to knock him out. I did, but I didn't."

"Well, he was worried about you not being able to defend yourself — I guess you taught him a lesson."

Annie chuckled at that but still looked a bit sheepish before she pulled Rachel into a warm hug. "Don't be too long," she said. "He was worried about you too, you know."

* * *

When Logan got down to the medical bay with Scott, he was a bit surprised to see that K wasn't the only other customer Hank was working on. Kate was in severe distress — her labor apparently kickstarted by the stress of the mess that had been going on around them.

She was crying with both anger and frustration by that point, and when she saw Logan, she half shouted "Kurt!" at him.

"On it," Logan called back before he more or less dropped Scott onto a stretcher and took off looking for Kurt. He rushed toward the Danger Room, half hoping that he'd catch them there, but when he opened the doors, it was only Noh and Jubilee with all the kids. "Elf — where is he?"

"He and the bamfs were with Bobby engaging some of the Hellfire Club's minions," Noh said.

"Kate needs him _now_ ," Logan replied.

Both Noh and Jubilee shared a look before Jubilee went to her comm. "Fuzzy Elf, get your butt in here pronto!" she called out, but before she could say anything further, the familiar scent of brimstone hit them, and Kurt appeared in the middle of the Danger Room as Krissy ran right to him with wide eyes.

"Kate's in labor," Logan said before he turned back to Jubilee. "Can you guys stay with the kids for a little while longer?"

"Of course," Jubes said quickly, snagging Charlie even as the little girl looked like she was about to go and explore why Logan looked so bloody.

"Everything's fine, little darlin'," Logan said, though he looked stressed. "Your folks are fine. They'll be in before you know it."

"You okay?" she asked, wide-eyed and staring at the blood.

"I'm fine," he promised before he turned to run back out of the room, only then realizing how much blood he had on him.

Kurt had, of course, beat him there, and by that time, Annie was there as well. She'd meant to come to check on Scott and to get her hands looked at, but of course, that was completely abandoned when she saw what was happening with Kate — and she had a hold of Kurt almost as soon as he'd arrived while Hank got to work.

Logan of course, started trying to clean up K and occasionally look over to see if Scott had woken up yet so he could direct him down to the kids. And as Scott was starting to come around, Hank had turned to Kurt to say, "We'll need to prep her for the surgery immediately," and that had him sitting bolt upright in an instant.

"Simmer down; Slim, Annie's fine," Logan said without turning to look his way. "She put you on the ground."

Scott still looked wide-eyed for an instant before he spotted Annie — and saw the rest of what was going on. "What's…?"

"If you're not in danger of passin' out, clean up the mess your wife made of you and go to the Danger Room to help Noh and Jubes," Logan said. "I still got a lot to clean up here."

Scott looked over at K and visibly winced and then quickly nodded as he rushed to clean himself up. "Kids okay?" he asked.

"Scared but fine," Logan said with a frown. "Just told Charlie you'd be on your way a little while ago."

"Right." Scott looked Logan's way, his gaze on the bloodied and shredded clothes for a second before he let out a breath. "Alright. I'll come back when the kids are asleep, then." With that, he tossed one last glance over at Annie, who was holding onto Kurt as he fussed over his very stressed-out wife, before he headed out to go find the kids.

Logan wasn't far behind him — though he went in a slightly different direction when K finally opened her eyes and he informed her it was time to wash up, one way or another. Of course, she'd gotten her hits in too, and they'd only gone a few steps before a pair of bamfs intervened and simply teleported them up to their room, saving a lot of trouble and keeping the two bloodied ferals from falling over.

In the med wing, the drugs were starting to take effect for Kate, though it hadn't really lessened her level of irritation at the world in general as she glared Hank's way. "I hate this stuff!" she complained loudly. "I wasn't even due for another week!"

"My dear Hawkeye, you know as well as I do that these babies simply choose on their own when it's time to be born," Hank said. "To my great surprise, this one seems to be even more dramatic than her father."

"She didn't decide anything. This was just..." Kate groaned in frustration before she leaned back and looked up at the ceiling.

"Be that as it may, she's coming now," Hank said. "But I promise — in just a few moments, you won't feel a thing, and your little elfling will be here very shortly."

"This is _your fault_ ," she said to Kurt, glaring his way now. " _Your_ dramatic genes."

"And for that I'm very sorry," Kurt offered, but Kate only glared at him harder for that one.

She went through a few rounds of that — complaining to Hank and then complaining to Kurt and even occasionally complaining to Annie before she had to stop for a moment and complain about the labor while Hank administered her pain relief, which Kate was quick to point out was not reassuring at _all_ when she saw the size of the needle even if it was after it was used.

But the complaints slowly slipped away as the pain disappeared, and instead, Hank started the prep for surgery, working fast and trying hard not to point out the lack of complaints and irritation floating around the room now that she was numbed up. "How are you feeling, Hawkeye?" Hank asked as he worked fast, barely glancing her way.

"This… is very different," she said with a little frown.

"Yes, well, I hope it's not too terrible," Hank said. "Are you ready to meet your little one, because we are about … two minutes out."

Kate glanced up at Hank and then at Kurt, her eyes wide. "Wait. What?"

"Hold that thought," Hank replied before he warned her of a bit of pressure, and a few moments later, he was holding up the little baby girl — and she did not look amused. But she was a beautiful purple, lighter than her big sister so that she was nearly pink, and she had almost a full head of curls that was nothing like Krissy's very straight wispy hair.

Kate broke into a very wide smile as she held out her arms for the little one. "Hey there, Kari," she said as soon as Hank laid her there. "It's a good thing you're so cute," she teased as the little one curled into Kate but was still _glaring_ over Hank's way.

"Kari?" Annie whispered to Kurt, who was positively beaming, and he nodded.

"Kari Rebecca," he said before he slipped over to sit beside Kate and gently reach over to play with her hands, little pink fingers curling around his own.

Kate was just getting settled into her bed when there was a muted _bamf_ that announced the arrival of the ferals. Both of them were cleaned up, and they were looking like hell anyhow in baggy clothes while Logan helped to keep K upright.

"Your little demons need to learn some manners," K muttered Kurt's way. "I just barely got dressed."

"They were excited," Kurt explained. By that time, he was holding Kari, and Kate was leaning back in the pillows with a tired, dopey smile.

"Is he giving you the good stuff, Kate?" K asked.

"Mmhmm," Kate said, still wearing that same tired smile. "Dramatic little elf decided to come early. Just like her big sister."

"Sorry I missed it," K said as she slipped into a chair nearby, looking worn.

"You should've come — meet your goddaughter." Kate looked very tired too but nodded to the bamfs. "Clint's godfather. So you two can keep doing your weird not-married thing," she teased.

"That's perfect," she said with a little smile her way.

"Would you like to say hello?" Kurt asked with a little smile as he tipped Kari into K's arms, not waiting for her to respond since she clearly looked as if she was going to refuse. The little pinkish elfling was wide awake and determined to glare at everyone she met, apparently, which had the bamfs giggling. K smiled at her a bit but then returned the glare to the little one as she played with one of her little curls.

There was another muted _bamf,_ and this time Clint and Natasha had joined the group. Natasha had Zoe in one arm as the little girl tried to paff at the smoke as it was still clearing, but when Clint saw K with the new little elfling, he was there in a second.

"Hey, she's pink this time," Clint said with a grin. "Just barely purple enough to qualify, but I like it."

"You want a turn?" K asked.

Clint grinned wider and scooped up the little elfling, who of course glared at him, and he could only laugh at that. "Oh, you and Zoe will get along great," he informed her as Natasha came over to also smirk at the glaring little elfling.

Natasha chuckled as she shifted Zoe so the little one could see better, and the two girls regarded each other with suspicion for a long moment, which had almost everyone in the room laughing quietly.

"Oh yeah. Instant best friends," Clint said with confidence.

"Not sure where she gets the glare from," K muttered to Logan, who still looked stressed. "Both of her parents are pure sunshine and lollipops."

" _You_ didn't hear Kate earlier," Annie whispered to Logan.

"Was it that bad?" Logan asked.

"She was yelling at Hank, Kurt — I got some of it, but mostly those two," Annie said.

"I'm sure if I was around, she'd have hit me too," Logan replied.

"Oh, I'm sure. No one was safe," Annie agreed, then leaned forward a bit. "Well, until the drugs kicked in."

"Hear that, Barton?" Logan called out, trying for a tease. "Your protege picked up your habits."

"I hope not," Clint said with a smirk. "I don't yell at people."

"Don't pay any attention to him," K told Clint. "He's in a mood."

Clint shrugged and grinned back down at Kari, who was still regarding Zoe suspiciously, though Zoe had gotten brave enough to peer a bit closer and very gently poke Kari in the nose — which instantly melted the little elfling into little squeaks.

"Oh my gosh — it's genetic," Kate said.

"That means they get it from you, big squeaker," K said, looking pointedly at Kurt.

Kurt raised an eyebrow. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Lies," K said at a harsh whisper. "Such lies you tell me."

"Now I'm just sad he's so old there's no video of that," Kate giggled delightedly as Clint made his way over to hand her back.

"If there was, it'd be silent film anyhow," K teased before Logan helped her to her feet.

Kurt rolled his eyes at her. "Maybe it's genetic in little elfling princesses," he offered with a smirk.

"Nice thought, but I doubt that one somehow," Logan added. "You got a cute little squeaker. Own up to your part in it."

Kurt broke into a wide grin and nodded as he settled in next to Kate. "Yes, she is perfect," he agreed. "I'll take credit for that."

"Is Krissy staying with Scott and the other kids?" Kate asked suddenly, as if it had just occurred to her that the other elfling wasn't there.

"We were headed up to the kids to find out what was going on when we got 'ported down here," Logan told her. "I can bring her down once I get K to bed if you want."

"Well, if she's awake, yes please."

He nodded, and the two of them headed out, only for Logan to return with Krissy wrapped around his neck a short while later, looking shy and sleepy.

"Hey, Krissy," Kate said with a matching tired smile. "Do you want to meet your little sister?"

Krissy picked up her head off of Logan's shoulder for a moment, her expression curious as she nodded but didn't try to climb down, perfectly content curled up around Logan's neck. When he brought her closer, she looked over the now sleeping little elfling and giggled. "She look like me."

"Who else would she look like?" Logan asked.

"Like Mommy?" Krissy leaned over a little further and started to smile wider.

"No way," Logan said, shaking his head a little before he tickled her sides. "She's much cuter than that."

"Say hi to Kari," Kate prompted, and Krissy giggled.

"Hi, Kari," she said, before she broke into giggles again. "She have a tail!"

"Yes, just like you, _Prinzessin_ ," Kurt agreed.

Krissy started to wriggle to be let down, and Logan gently let her down with Kurt on the other side of Kate so she could climb into his lap and be closer to her sister. She watched the sleeping baby for a while longer before she giggled again and leaned over to give Kari a little kiss on the forehead.

"Thank you, Logan," Kurt whispered Logan's way as he and his girls snuggled up together.

"Bring her by if she needs a break," Logan told him before he turned to head back up again.

"Night night Wogan!" Krissy called out to him as he left before she giggled and curled up between both of her parents to fawn over her new sister.


	6. Slim and Slimmer

**Notes: Annie has always been awesome, but it's nice to let her prove it ;) And of course the kids are awesome, especially since Kari and Zoe both have Hawkeye genes!**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: "Slim and Slimmer"**

* * *

All of the kids were in the kitchen for lunchtime, and while most of them were still listening to Krissy gush all over herself about her "pretty sissy," Charlie had pushed her step stool over to where Annie was working on sandwiches for all the kids so that she could help. She knew her mom was tired still after last night's adventures, and she wanted to help Annie as best she could.

Charlie kept half an eye on her mom and dad as she helped to pull apart the slices of cheese to add to the sandwiches and handed them to her mom. She didn't really understand a lot of what had happened last night, but she knew that her dad kept looking at her mom differently than he usually did, and they were doing a lot of kissing and hugging — though at the moment, her dad was with Cody, who was sleeping again. He did that a lot.

Her mom's hands had been hurt when Charlie woke up, but Tyler fixed her up at breakfast. Still, Charlie couldn't help but try to sneak a peek at Annie's hands to make sure they were really okay. She didn't know who had hurt her mom, but she knew that she'd probably been out fighting with everybody when the bad guys came, even though she didn't usually do that.

But her mom and dad hadn't been hurt as badly as Elin's mom and dad had, so when K and Logan came in from riding on Logan's motorcycle, she peeked her head around Annie's side to check on them, too. They _looked_ okay — but Charlie had seen how much blood Logan had on him. That was _way_ too much for Minnie Mouse band-aids to fix. And even if he didn't have any band-aids, he didn't look very happy.

Charlie nodded to herself as she made her decision and tugged on her mom's sleeve. "Can I take a sammich to Logan?" she asked.

Annie looked surprised for a moment before she broke into a little smile and nodded. "Of course," she said as she handed Charlie the one she had just finished, and Charlie grinned and climbed down from the step stool before she ran over to where Logan and K were just sitting down with their coffees.

She climbed right up into the chair next to them as she put the sandwich down on the table in front of Logan. "Thas for you," she explained.

He gave her a little look and did his level best to try and smile at her before he ruffled her hair and thanked her. "We grabbed something while we were out, little darlin'," Logan told her. "That was thoughtful, though."

"You gotta eat," she said, nodding. "Cuz when you get hurt, you gotta eat."

His put on smile fell a bit, and he glanced toward Scott and Annie to see how much they'd caught. Scott wasn't paying too much attention because Cody was being a little fussy, but Annie was watching the whole thing with a clearly surprised — but almost proud — look on her face.

"You're pretty smart, you know that?" Logan said before he pulled her into a real hug this time. "But I'm okay."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. She was trying to whisper as she shook her head at him, though. "You got hurted," she told him. "And you're still sad!"

He stared at her for a moment before, very quietly, he said. "I'm okay, kiddo."

She gave him a very Summers-esque look, crossed her arms, and shook her head before she very pointedly made herself comfortable in his lap, stealing half of his sandwich for herself — she clearly wasn't going anywhere.

And it only made the look she gave him worse when K leaned over and gave Logan a kiss, sure to whisper loud enough for Charlie to hear when she told him "You know, she's right."

Charlie looked very smug and triumphant and nodded at K. "I pay 'tention."

"You're a little Hawkeye in training already," K agreed. "And Logan is too serious, isn't he?"

Charlie nodded with wide eyes. "Lotsa people hurted yesterday," she told Logan seriously. "It's all better now!"

He looked down at her with a deep frown before K gave him another kiss on the cheek. "All better now. Lighten up or I'll have to stage an attack. Kids'll help, right Charlie?"

"I help!" she agreed brightly.

"Do not use the kids as leverage," he half growled to K, who smiled a bit wider at him.

"Then don't take what happened yesterday to heart so seriously. That would never, ever happen without someone _forcing_ it. So stop." He gave her a little look, and she snuggled in next to Charlie. "We can hash it out later."

"After sammiches," Charlie agreed with a nod, not really understanding but trying very hard to help.

"We had burgers, honey," K told her. "When we were out on the motorcycle. Sammiches are for you."

"I didn't get hurted," Charlie said, shaking her head.

"No, but you're growing, and you need energy to be a good Hawkeye." K reached over and tickled Charlie's sides to be sure she was going to smile.

Charlie giggled and tried to wriggle away from her, snuggling further into Logan in the process, as she was half using him to hide. "I have sammich too," she said. When K had stopped tickling her, she wrapped herself a little tighter around Logan's neck. "So I can be like Miss Kate! Right?"

"Yep, but you'll have to find a best friend that likes to wear Band-aids," Logan tried to tease. "All the time."

Charlie nodded as she tried to think about it. "But Gerry is Chance's best friend," she said at last.

"Didn't Krissy need a Band-aid the other day too?" K asked.

Charlie had to nod her agreement at that one. "I stepped on her tail."

K made a point to look at her as wide-eyed as she could. "And _you_ had bandaids too, didn't you. Sounds like you're already like Miss Kate." She leaned closer to her, looking at her suspiciously. "Are you _sure_ you're not already a Hawkeye? What's your favorite color?"

Charlie giggled delightedly. "It's blue, silly!"

"Well … I know Kate _tells_ everyone her favorite color is purple … but you know what?" K leaned over to whisper in Charlie's ear. " _I think it's really blue._ " That, of course, had Logan chuckling too.

"Nu-uh!" Charlie said, though she was giggling louder now. "It's _purple_! That's what she says!"

"That's what she says, sure … but I think it's still blue."

Charlie giggled and shook her head. "No, that's _Kurt's_ favorite!" she tried to explain. "You gotted them mixed up!"

"I don't think so," K insisted. "I think _you_ got it mixed up."

"You should ask Kurt," Logan suggested at a low rumble to Charlie. "His tail twitches when he lies."

"Really?" She looked wide-eyed at him. "Then he can never, ever lie!"

Logan got quieter now so that only those three could hear it, and Annie was plainly trying to see what was happening so softly. "He doesn't _know_ his tail twitches when he lies," Logan told her. "It's a secret."

Charlie considered this for a moment before she nodded slowly. "What about Krissy?" she asked with a troublemaking grin.

"Krissy's too little to lie yet," Logan told her. "But she'll have some kind of tell like that."

Charlie nodded, clearly filing that information away for later. "People shouldn't lie at all," she told Logan.

"They don't get away with lying around me or K," Logan told her. "We _always_ know."

"That's good," Charlie said before she paused for a moment and tipped her head at Logan. "But you lied before! You said you were okay. And you and Daddy use that lie a _lot_."

"It's because they're _trying_ to be okay," K explained. "They don't mean to upset anyone because they're really just lying to themselves. Which is worse. Because everyone else knows."

"That's silly," Charlie said, wrinkling her nose. "You gotta tell people when you're hurted so you can get _Twinkies_."

"When I'm hurt, everyone knows," Logan said, with the frown returning. "And I don't like Twinkies."

"So no lying," Charlie told him with her little hands on her hips as she turned to face him better. "Cuz everybody knows, so it's _silly_."

"Why don't you go eat your sandwich and pick on your dad?"

But Charlie grinned and shook her head as she snuggled right back in. "Mom picking on him."

Logan glanced over and let out a sigh as it did look like Annie was having a talk with him — if the expression on Scott's face was anything to go by. "Little Squawkeye."

"That's not how you say it!" Charlie giggled. "You're silly."

He pulled her into a bear hug and kissed the top of her head before he let her go again. "That's not how _you_ say it. It is how I say it."

Charlie poked him in the chest and shook her head at him. "That's _not_ gonna be my X-Man name," she informed him, with no room in her tone for argument.

"No, I think you're working toward 'Little Slim'."

"No!" She looked fairly obstinate. "I'll be a grown-up! Not little!"

"Slim and Slimmer," Logan suggested. "You and your dad."

She thought about it for a moment and then smiled. "Okay," she allowed. "I guess that's okay."

"You catch that, Slim?" Logan half called out, sure to draw Scott's attention their way.

Scott looked up between the two of them, looking over Logan's smirk and Charlie's little grin. "Catch what?"

"She likes her nickname right off the bat," Logan said. "Isn't that right, kiddo?"

She giggled and nodded. "I'm not Little Slim," she explained Scott's way. "I'm Slimmer!"

Scott stared at Charlie for a second, clearly trying to work out a proper response to that. "Well, I'm glad you like it," he said at last.

She beamed at him and nodded. "It means he _likes_ me!" she said, sounding totally pleased with herself. "Cuz I get to be like _you_!"

"That's exactly right," K said as she leaned over to give her a little kiss. "No one has more nicknames from Logan than your dad." Logan turned and gave her a dry look at that one.

"It's cuz he likes him _lots_ ," Charlie explained, which had Scott almost openly staring.

"You're a very smart little girl," Annie agreed, her eyes twinkling as neither Scott nor Logan seemed to be able to come up with _anything_ to say.

Thankfully for both of them, though, Krissy had poked her head into the kitchen when Charlie had taken too long coming back. "Charlie-e-e-e," she complained. "You weft me with the _boys_!"

"Elin was there too," Charlie defended.

"Ewin twyna teach James say 'hi,'" Krissy shot back, her arms crossed and her tail swishing in annoyance. "Sying being... " She scrunched up her face as she tried to remember the word.

"Too nice?" K asked.

"Rekotizing!" Krissy said instead, clearly trying to explain Sying's behavior but falling vastly short of whatever word she was _trying_ to use.

"Charlie," K said softly. "Maybe you should go get Krissy a sammitch. Maybe she needs one."

Charlie seemed to consider that for a moment before she sighed and nodded. She made it a point to kiss Logan on the cheek first, though, and to stick her finger in his face. "No being sad," she ordered him before she climbed down to go play with Krissy for a while.

When the girls got back with their sandwiches, Chance and Sying were playing with cars again, and Charlie took a second to skip over to Elin with a little grin. "We all gotta snuggle Wogan," she said conspiratorially. "You help?"

Elin frowned a little bit at that, since she didn't know why Charlie wanted to pick on her dad. "Why?"

"Cuz he sad," Charlie explained even quieter.

"From oush," Elin said with a little nod.

"Yep." Charlie nodded with her little eyes wide. "So he needs snuggles."

"Okay, yes. _Ja, da, iie, oui._ " Elin sang through her list as she got to her feet and started to head right for Chance.

Charlie beamed at that and nodded before the girls headed over to go join the little boys. Chance was trying to get James to play with a very big and age-appropriate truck and not one of the smaller ones. "This one yours," Chance explained patiently, pushing the choking hazard away from the crawling little boy. "See?" He illustrated his point by pushing the car around a bit and making car noises.

James watched him for a moment, keeping full eye contact before he pushed the car away from himself and shook his head 'no'.

Chance let out a sigh and tried to push the car back as Sying giggled a little bit and tried to find a different toy for James, since this clearly wasn't working. He came back with all sorts of James' toys, but the little boy shook his head at everything.

"He contrary," Sying said.

"Be nice," Krissy told him with a little glare as she sat down next to James and shared some of the sweets she had snitched from the kitchen when she went to get Charlie. "He little."

"He _contrary_ ," Sying insisted with arms crossed.

"And little," Elin said. "Both are right."

"See?" Sying said to Krissy, looking triumphant, but she harrumphed at him.

"You gotta be nice," she insisted.

"I _am_ nice!" Sying said, looking very confused. "I share!"

Krissy glowered at him, her tail switching angrily. "You call him names!"

"I do _not_!"

"Uh-huh!" Krissy crossed her arms and glared at the little boy, her little hands in fists.

" _Nein!_ " Elin half growled as she pushed her way between the two of them. "He _is_ nice."

Krissy's tail was still switching as she looked between Elin and Sying. She sniffed and then turned around to go play with her own toys somewhere else.

Sying turned to Elin with an open, wide-eyed expression. "What happen?"

Elin gave him a little hug and shrugged her shoulders. "She's okay. Just mad."

Sying frowned at that and looked thoughtful for a second before he nodded, turned toward the kitchen, and half scrambled to go find something sweet to make up for whatever he had done to make Krissy mad.

"What's up, Maple Sugar?" K asked when she spotted the upset expression on Sying's face.

"I made Krissy mad," he said, still very upset as he started to walk up the side of the counter to get to the cookie jar.

K plucked him up into a snuggle just before he reached the cookie jar. "Yeah? What happened? Before you start trying to sugar her up."

He looked up at her for a second before his lower lip started to quiver. "I don't _know_!" he said before he buried his face in her shoulder. "I _trying_ to help!"

K let out a breath and carried the little guy to the nearest chair to sit down and curl up with him better, kissing the top of his head as she nuzzled him. "I think … the two of you aren't understanding each other very well yet."

"She said I mean," he said miserably with a little hitched breath.

"You're not mean at all," she replied, still half curled around him.

"I trying to help," he said. "I trying to help with the baby brothers." He rubbed one fist over his eye. "I trying really hard!"

"And you're probably doing a really good job too," she told him. "You always do. Just like your Daddy."

He nodded, his lip still trembling. "I try," he said again. "I don' have a baby brother, so I try to help."

"Do you think you need a baby brother to help?" K asked. "Because you don't."

But that got him started crying all over again, and K had a hard time getting him to tell her what had him upset this time as he kept wailing until Jubilee came in to find her little boy in that state.

"What happened?" she asked as she quickly ran over to where Sying was half hiding in K's shoulder.

"He's been trying to help with the little brothers and sisters," K tried to explain as she shifted to make room for Jubilee to curl in too.

"He's been doing that since James came along," Jubilee pointed out as she tried to sooth Sying and gently ruffled his hair. "What's wrong, Sying?"

He picked up his head and shifted so that he was latched on to Jubilee's shoulder before he sobbed through his answer. "I trying to help," he said. "But I by myself!"

Jubilee and K shared a look as Jubilee shifted so that Sying was more properly tucked into her, and she kissed the top of his head very gently. "No, you're not, you cute little baby star," she told him as she shushed him. "You have plenty of friends that can help you."

"No," he sniffled gently. "Charlie has Chance and Cody! And Elin has James. And Krissy has Kari. I by myself!" His lower lip was quivering as he tried to stop crying but couldn't seem to stop. "They gonna forget about me!"

Again, the two women shared a look as they tried to console the hysterical little boy. "No they're not. You have wonderful friends," Jubilee tried to assure him as he broke into little hiccoughed sobs.

"Everybody has a little brother or sister but _me_ ," he said. "Even Gerry has Zoe!"

Despite how upset Sying was, K couldn't help the look she was giving Jubilee as Jubilee was trying very hard not to look at her. "Do you _want_ a little brother or sister?" she asked Sying, and he looked up at K and sniffled hard and nodded.

Jubilee gave K a bit of a glare before she kissed Sying's forehead. "Sweetie, you can't ask for people like you can ask for toys," she tried to explain.

He scrunched up his face as he tried to sniffle himself back under control. "I by myself," he muttered again, quieter this time as he seemed to have exhausted himself with how upset he was.

Jubilee let out a sigh and snuggled Sying for a little while until he started to settle out, and when at last he stopped crying, she gently wiped his tears as little Krissy poked her head back in the kitchen — again investigating why one of her friends had disappeared for so long.

When Krissy saw that Sying was crying, she immediately jumped to concern and climbed up into K's lap with wide eyes. "Why sad?" she asked, reaching over to give Sying the best hug she could.

But Sying pushed her away for a second and glared at her, half hiding behind Jubilee.

K pulled Krissy a little bit so the elfling was facing her as she tried to explain. "Sying wants to help with the littlest kids, but you got mad at him for helping."

Krissy scrunched up her nose for a moment before she looked at Sying and pushed out her lower lip. She let out all her breath and looked very much like her mother for a moment as she sighed. "I sowwy," she said, though she sounded a bit put out at having to apologize. "Play now?"

But Sying half hid in Jubilee again and shook his head.

Krissy looked concerned and glanced up at K, who shook her head. "He doesn't want to play right now," she explained, and Krissy looked put out by that but nodded her understanding before she slipped back down out of K's lap and headed out to where the other little ones were.

Of course, right about the time Jubilee was starting to think it was time to put Sying down for a nap after all that crying had obviously tired him out, Krissy reappeared a few moments later, a packet of fruit snacks clasped in one hand from her stash — no one was quite able to figure out where she kept hiding treats everywhere, but she seemed to be able to keep track of them.

She placed the fruit snacks in Sying's lap but didn't try to crawl up next to him this time. "Sowwy I gotted mad," she said with wide eyes, and Sying stared at her for a second as he watched her tail swishing behind her and the way she had her hands clasped behind her back and looked every bit the very sorry little girl. "If you _want_ , we can eat snacks on the ceiling," she offered.

Sying started to smile at that even as Jubilee and K shared a look. "Okay," he said as he jumped down, fruit snacks in hand, and grabbed Krissy's hand with his other hand. Before either K or Jubilee could say anything, they were giggling already and running off to climb up the walls as only the two of them could do — which meant fruit snacks dropped from above and left sticky handprints on the walls and ceiling.

"Well at least he's not asking for a little brother anymore," K teased when Jubilee shook her head at the whole situation.

"Please don't encourage him," Jubilee said, shaking her head.

"Hey, he did that one all on his own," K defended. "Can't really blame him, though — seems like everyone around here is rolling in the glitter. Kid has to feel left out."

Jubilee shot her a look and then rolled her eyes up to the ceiling. "Whatever," she muttered before she bounced off after the two wall-crawling little ones.


	7. Logan's Still a Little Protective

**Notes: Oh yeah. We love watching the X-Men become putty in the hands of our kids. It's so. Cute.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: "Logan's Still a Little Protective"**

* * *

It was impossible to hide from little ears everything going on in the mansion, but it was even more impossible when they were super-hearing ears, so Sying was pretty darn excited about Tony and Billy coming for the team member swap that week. He was all but waiting at the door — though he was literally climbing the walls with excitement and had to be pulled from the ceiling a couple times — before there was finally a knock at the front door, and Billy and Tony were greeted by a very, very excited almost-two-year-old… and Noh.

"TONY!" Sying shouted and ran to hug him around the knees as Billy and Noh shared a little grin while Billy pulled out his cell phone to snap a picture — the first of many, since Tony often got mobbed by the shorter crowd when he came to visit. "Tony! I turnin two soon. You gotta come!" he said as he took Tony by the hand and started to pull him inside. "Dad says I learn to _fly_ when I two!"

When Tony glanced Noh's way, Noh shrugged. "I was planning to teach the others — no reason he should be left out just because he's the youngest — but Jubilee did set the age limit there. Even though our little boy develops faster than the others."

"Almost unreasonable," Tony teased. "What toddler _doesn't_ need to know how to fly a spaceship?"

Noh laughed as motioned them inside. "Well, it's a mutually beneficial relationship. My ship _loves_ the children. She's getting sentimental as she gets older."

As the three of them made their way toward the kitchen, Elin came around the corner looking for Sying. She stopped when she saw Tony, though, and gave him a little smile. " _Hej_ ," she said brightly before she bounced over and held her arms up for him to pick her up.

Of course, as soon as Tony did that, Sying wanted to be picked up too, which meant Tony had a kid in either arm by the time he was only halfway through the entryway — with Billy gleefully snapping pictures as both Sying and Elin hugged him around the neck.

"Kids love Iron Man," Billy said with a wide, teasing grin, and Noh had to nod his agreement before he draped an arm over Billy's shoulder and the two old teammates started to catch up with each other, leaving Tony with the two kids in their wake.

When Tony set them down in the kitchen, Elin made sure to give him a very careful kiss on the cheek. " _Tack s_ _å_ _mycket, vacker,_ " she said before she just skipped out with Sying to go play and let the grown-ups do whatever it was grown-ups did.

Billy was still grinning as he leaned over to Noh and not-at-all-subtly asked, "Think me and Teddy could get a little one that cute? We're looking at adoption, you know."

"I think there's kind of a small market out there for little Swedish ferals — but who knows?" Tony said with a little smile.

"I'm sure whoever you get will be perfect, and Tony will spoil them rotten, since they will be with your team more often than not," Noh said reasonably, grinning Tony's way. "What was it you sent Gerry for his birthday?"

"That … really doesn't matter, does it?" Tony said as he tried to walk away and change the subject. "What kind of bad guys are we up against today?"

"Oh, the usual," Noh said, waving his hand Tony's way as Billy grinned and leaned forward.

"You know Gerry insisted on bringing that thing to the Tower when Jess and Clint both had to come in? Kamala just about died when she saw him driving around in it. There is video of her trying to prevent a crash."

"The little radio on it really was the best part," Noh agreed.

"Put a soundtrack to the whole thing and I didn't have to do a lick of editing," Billy said. "Which is a shame, since Pete had ideas."

"It's my understanding Tommy wanted to put it to Mario Kart music."

"Oh yeah. He might have mentioned that to Pete," Billy said, nodding seriously. "Miles offered to help."

"Are you boys having fun?" K asked when they finally got off the main floor and down to the Danger Room. "Or are you ready to quit talking and get to work?"

"As you have reliably informed me, I am an old biddie," Noh said airily, but he was grinning ear to ear.

"Only because your beauty regimen is from the fifties," she replied as she bumped him with her shoulder.

"And his music taste from the seventies," Billy joined in.

"This month," K amended. "I'm still waiting for his gangster rap period."

"That… please get pictures," Billy said, half stunned into a grin that wouldn't stop stretching wider and wider.

"The lyrical misinterpretations will be amazing, I'm sure," she said his way.

"The fact that you've even got him on phrases like 'old biddy' is a step up," Billy teased.

"He has to work to keep up — we drop idioms all the time," she explained with a smirk.

"I'm starting to think Tony was right and we should get down to training," Noh said mildly, though it was clear he was enjoying himself nonetheless.

"Are we working as a full team or picking partners?" K asked. "I'm game either way."

"We'll start out with partners," Scott explained, "and work up to the full team. Pretty simple for today — just try and take down your opponent." He looked between the group and smirked the slightest bit. "K, why don't you pair with Billy? Tony, you're with me." He moved through the rest of the X-Men and started pairing them up before he announced the start of the exercise, and Billy looked almost apologetically K's way.

"Tap out if you need it," he said, though his tone was teasing.

"I don't know that move," K teased right back. "You'll have to show me how it works."

Billy grinned before both eyes lit up and, in an instant, he was in the air and tossing spells her way to try and pin her down or stop her in her tracks. " _Kcan'tmove, Kcan'tmove, Kcan'tmove_ ," he was all but singing over her head and out of her reach above the dark nighttime cityscape, sticking her fast to the sidewalk.

But K was stuck close enough to a light pole in the street that, with a little growl, she was able to pop her claws into it, and it went falling Billy's way, forcing him to dodge and breaking his concentration for a moment.

He caught the post with a spell and threw it back at her, and she cut through it on her way toward him, and with a little 'eep' he muttered out a word that didn't sound like his usual spells that had him gone in an instant and reappearing a moment later further out of her reach.

"Little bit of Asgardian mumbo jumbo," he said with a grin. "Loki's favorite."

"I like it," she said, grinning back his way before she took half a second to run the wrong way back across the street and pull herself up onto a fire escape. "What else did the little god of mischief teach you?"

He grinned and reached out with both hands as the cityscape seemed to bend and twist in front of her eyes, making it hard to see where to place her next step -—and even her sense of smell was off. "Oh, you know. Tricks and mischief and things that annoy the heck out of my brother and my husband."

"Oh, well. You're just bringing the sixties back," K laughed.

"That's what Teddy said," Billy agreed with a laugh of his own before K felt a little tug in her center of gravity. " _Justhangout, justhangout, justhangout_ ," Billy chanted as she found herself suspended in the middle of the air, her senses still on the fritz.

"Trippy man," K drawled out with a little smile.

"Want to tap out?" he teased.

"I don't know what that _means_ ," she insisted, though she was flat laughing and looked like she was going to accept being out of it anyhow.

"Okay, then. You just hang out up there. Know any good burger places in this simulated city?" he called up to her. They could both hear their teammates having a much rougher fight beyond them, but as far as they were concerned, this was a little relaxation.

"Ooh, yeah, there was a place down by the diner ... six blocks down ... but then I changed one of Scott's programs to only sing to him and he … closed it for me," she said with a brilliant grin. "Just out of spite."

"Can't imagine anyone getting spiteful with the hanging decoration," Billy chuckled.

"I know, just unappreciative," she said, waiting for him to laugh or shake his head. The moment he did, she whipped her comm at his head, bouncing it off of his forehead and breaking his concentration enough that she dropped and darted off into a dark alley.

Billy grinned again and held one hand over his head. " _Searchlight, searchlight, searchlight_ ," he said as he started to roam the streets from up high. He floated easily down the street and even caught sight of a bit of smoke as Kurt had teleported nearby in fighting Storm.

He seemed to decide that if he was catching sight of another fight, he had gone too far, so he turned around and headed back toward where he'd come, this time peering in windows instead of down streets — and this time using a new spell that seemed to X-Ray the buildings from outside so he could see if she was hiding in them.

He was just starting to wonder where the heck she could have disappeared to — since nothing was really working — when out of nowhere, she hit him from _above,_ having jumped off of a rather tall building to take him by surprise.

He let out a shriek that was half surprise and half pain, and they both hit the ground with Billy all but pinned underneath her.

"You ready to tap out?" she asked as she tweaked him around a bit. "So Tyler can fix whatever I just broke?"

" _Letmego, letmego, letmego,_ " he sang out from underneath her, half buried in the sidewalk.

As he started to chant, she did let him go — only to reach out and pinch the living hell out of him to get him to stop chanting.

"Ow!" He tried to hold up both hands in defense, but he clearly wasn't getting anywhere with that, so he muttered out his Asgardian word and disappeared again, right out from under her, reappearing a little further down as he leaned against the wall.

"Guess we're playing now," he said with a crooked grin once he was even halfway straightened up, and he threw out a hand, this time without any chanting, since this was one of the spells he had more or less mastered. She went flying right into the nearest wall and left a sizeable dent before he picked her up and did the same thing to the wall on the opposite end of the street, though this time with enough force that she went _through_ the building and nearly into the middle of Peter and Logan's fight.

The interruption — and the sight of K flying through a wall — was enough to distract Logan as Peter went swinging into him, feet first, and sent him sprawling into a fire escape. Peter followed it up with well-placed webs that, at least for a second, pinned Logan to the fire escape at an angle that would likely bring the rickety thing down on him when he moved. But rather than look excited that his move had worked, Peter was openly staring.

"What's up with you today?" he asked, one eyebrow obviously raised. "That — that was my distraction move for a better followup. That _never_ works on you. What gives?"

Logan glanced up at him, but if Peter had been paying attention, he would have seen that Logan had his eyes on K until she got up. Instead of answering him, he simply popped his claws, breaking through the webbing, the fire escape, and the connections that held it to the building — which of course, made the whole thing come down around him before he whipped a trash can Peter's way.

"Come on, Petey; don't make me come after you," Logan growled out.

"I… thought that was the point. But not _that_ way?" Peter shook his head. "Someone woke up on the grumpy side of the cave."

"Move it or I'm moving on," Logan called out.

Peter rolled his eyes up to the ceiling before he jumped back into his swinging routine.

In the meantime, K was back on her feet and running for Billy, who finally at least had his head in the game and was doing his level best to keep her from getting any traction in her attempt to come at him. To her frustration, he seemed to be wary of letting her out of his sight and kept throwing her around — into walls and sidewalks every time she even looked like she might get up again.

"Seriously. Tap out," Billy called out to her.

"No," she called back stubbornly.

Billy sighed as he picked her up with his spells again, half dangling her upside down. "You are seriously stubborn," he told her from a good distance back.

"Everyone keeps saying that, but they won't tell me what it means," K said with a thick Swedish accent.

Billy rolled his eyes hard as he raised her up higher and higher until there was nothing for her to hit or grab onto, and he walked along the air at a safe distance underneath her. "It means you don't know when to quit. Even when you look like a hanging Halloween decoration," he teased her.

"A cute one though, right?"

"I wouldn't know — I wasn't looking," he replied easily, but with a crooked and teasing grin.

And nearby, Peter came at Logan again — feet first in his swing, bracing himself hard... but he really didn't expect for Logan to sidestep at the very last second and grab him by his ankles.

Peter let out a little sound of surprise when he didn't hit Logan _or_ the ground.

Logan dug down his heels and leaned far back as he used Peter's momentum to turn the foot-first attack into a swing, whipping Peter around a few times before he let him go — and the trajectory had him heading right for Billy. And Billy didn't see him coming until Peter looked over his shoulder and saw he was barrelling right at him.

"Heads up!" Peter shouted about half a second before the two of them collided mid-air.

The two of them went crashing down in a heap, and not two seconds later, so did K — though Logan managed to snag her before she could hit the ground as the two Avengers were trying to recover from the collision and fall.

"Oooh, that's gonna leave a mark," Peter said with a wince as he looked over at Billy, who was nodding his agreement and rubbing his head.

Logan barely set her feet on the ground before she stole a quick kiss — and the two of them ran right for Billy and Peter, set to start pounding on them ... or at least let it be known that they were ready to fight on the solid ground already.

Billy had gotten to his feet when K swept them out from under him, and she leapt on top of him to twist him into a human pretzel. He shouted out but, like K, was stubborn about saying uncle as he tried to use Loki's teleportation spell again to get out of there.

He only got halfway through the word before she cracked him in the mouth. "Enough of that now," she said with a little growl.

He looked a little betrayed at her before he grinned and slowly shook his head. "Uncle," he said through his busted lip. "Get _off_."

She let him go and hopped off before she offered him a hand up. "You really don't like hand-to-hand, do you?" K asked.

He wiped the corner of his mouth and shook his head. "Even with a dampening field, I can still use magic I've learned from Loki and Strange," he explained.

"Yeah, but … one good crack in the mouth or lose your voice and you're screwed," she reasoned. "I can help you if you want. My style isn't all big, he-man, muscle-bound force. Little more graceful than that."

Billy laughed a little bit at that and gestured to himself with a little wince. "Probably good for me. I'm not exactly he-man muscle-bound force."

She gestured to herself. "Yet it can still be done." The two of them headed off toward the wall to wait while the other battles waged on — and once K wasn't a factor, Peter found himself on the offensive as Logan ripped into him much more fiercely than before.

"You sure you're not trying to kill me?" Peter asked, only half-joking as he dodged another blow — just barely, and only because his spider senses had told him it was coming.

"Not yet," Logan countered, shifting into that scary practiced martial arts mode. "Keep talking and ask me again in a few minutes."

"Uh… no thanks," Peter said, actually falling silent as he simply focused on _not_ getting his head taken off… for a few minutes anyway.

The silence was marked only by the sounds of the two of them fighting. By that time, the rest of the paired off combatants had finished and were slowly gathering to watch. Peter had just dodged a palm strike that would have broken more than his nose, only to all but throw himself into a waiting kick to the ribs.

When Peter went sprawling and didn't immediately pop back up, Scott called out, "Alright, time," and the hard light simulation faded away.

Logan rolled his shoulders as Peter got to his feet and didn't bother looking back at him before he made his way over to where K and Kurt were talking with Billy about doing some hand-to-hand work with him while he was around — and already offering to make it a regular thing if he liked it.

"That would be cool," Billy said, nodding his agreement and still wincing pretty badly from the thrashing K had given him — and the fall from when Peter had hit him in midair.

"You two should go see Tyler," Scott said when he got to Billy — and nodded Peter's way as well. "I think he's up in the booth with Kate and some of the kids still." He tipped his head up to where Kate and Tyler were watching — Kate with little Kari and Tyler with a very excited James, who was grinning and waving at his parents.

"Ooh, I haven't seen Kari yet in person," Billy said, perking up considerably before, in a flash, he was gone, using the teleporting spell again to reappear beside Kate and grin down at the pink-ish little elfling.

Peter grinned up at the booth and waved at James before he shot half a look Logan's way and headed up himself to go get his ribs looked at — fairly certain Logan had at _least_ bruised them.

The rest of the group gathered up to listen to what Scott had to say, though Kurt had to smirk a bit at the way Logan was pulling K close and muttering something to her too quiet for the rest of them to catch all through Scott's evaluation of what they could do better and what they were doing well before he set them all up with new partners to run the sim again — letting Peter and Billy team up if they wanted to play again.

* * *

When Tammy and Rachel pulled up to the Avengers tower, Tammy looked a little bit nervous. Until recently, the junior team hadn't been part of the rotation schedule, but Scott had wanted to get them out in the field more often and just generally involved more, so this was her first time as a temporary Avenger.

"You really have no reason to be nervous," Rachel told her as they got out of the car. "I promise they don't bite."

Tammy laughed and pushed some of her hair out of her face. "Yeah, I know. I just… before I knew I was a mutant, I wanted to be like ... Spiderman or one of the Avengers." She held up both hands. "Don't get me wrong. I like being an X-Man. But you guys weren't my heroes growing up? They were. So…"

"So you upgraded," Rachel said with a cocky smirk. "No shame in that."

Tammy laughed again and rolled her eyes. "Sure, that's what we'll go with," she said, still grinning as they got to the front door and were greeted by Carol, who made it a point to introduce herself to Tammy even though the slim blonde was half mumbling, "Yeah, I know who you are," as soon as introductions were made.

"Well, you're going to like this place, I promise," Carol told Tammy. "I think Kamala and Miles are excited to have someone a little closer to their age around here," she added in a conspiratory tone as they headed into the tower, though Rachel excused herself while Carol was giving Tammy the grand tour — she'd already been through that once before.

She was halfway to the roof, where she could sense that Clint and the two youngest Avengers were anyway, so she could send them down to Tammy to help her feel more welcome ... when Pepper Potts came out of Tony's workshop and nearly collided with her.

"Sorry," Pepper said quickly. "I wasn't paying attention…" She trailed off as she seemed to realize who it was that she had almost bumped into. "Oh, Rachel! I heard you were bringing someone new to the Tower this time," she said as she straightened up and slipped into her most business-like mode.

"Yeah, one of our junior team," Rachel replied. "Want to meet her? I'd be happy to introduce her."

"Sure," Pepper said with a warm smile. "I try to meet everyone that comes by, but ... schedules…" She waved the hand that wasn't holding the tablet she had obviously been making notes on. "I didn't know the junior team was ready for a public debut."

"Well, this is the first time we sent one of our younger members," she said with a little amused smirk. "I don't know that she's quite ready — but she needed to see how the other side works too."

"I don't know that _anyone's_ ever ready for this," Pepper pointed out, gesturing around the tower. "And I don't just mean the Avengers. I mean all of it," she added quickly.

"Yeah, even some of our most seasoned have a hard time now and again," Rachel said. "How about you guys … everyone okay?"

Pepper nodded, but it was a much slower reaction that was usual for her. Then, remembering that she was talking with a telepath, she sighed. "You know how it is. Some problems just never go away."

"Well, we've kind of been making a habit of making them go away more permanently lately," Rachel said. "Maybe … what exactly is it that's bothering you? You're kind of projecting."

"Sorry; I'm not used to dealing with telepaths," Pepper said with a little smile. "Maybe later when you and I have some time, we can deal with that." Her smile grew wider and more genuine for a moment before she seemed to consider Rachel's offer a little more. "I don't know that the X-Men have ever dealt with this particular problem before," she admitted.

"Try me," Rachel replied. "We get all kinds."

"Well." Pepper hedged for a moment and then tipped her head at Rachel to indicate that she should follow her into Tony's workshop. Once they were inside, Pepper set her tablet down and let out a weary sigh. "Do you know who the Purple Man is?"

"I …" Rachel closed her eyes for a moment and concentrated on what Pepper was projecting out. "I am vaguely familiar. He was with the Hellfire Club a few weeks ago. They made a play for Scott and tried to get the ferals to kill each other." She watched Pepper's face for a moment. "I handled it."

Pepper's eyebrows shot up. "Handled it how?" she asked, sounding almost hopeful.

"Well ... he was being mind controlled by a rabid pack of telepaths, and I kicked them out of his head. He more or less took off on his own after that," Rachel admitted.

Pepper frowned at that before something like a smirk settled over her face. "I was wondering why he was being such a pain lately, but it _is_ nice to hear someone gave him a taste of his own medicine. Who was pulling _his_ strings?"

"The White Queen and her 'daughters'," Rachel replied. "He really doesn't have that powerful of a mind, to be honest."

"Well, if I understand it right, what he does isn't exactly mind control anyway," Pepper pointed out with a sigh. "I mean ... it is, but not the way you're used to."

"No kidding," Rachel said with an almost battle weary tone. "You wouldn't believe what was going on in the ferals' heads while they were fighting."

"I… really don't think I want to know, actually," Pepper admitted.

"I wouldn't share, honestly," Rachel assured her.

Pepper let out a bit of a breath as she looked Rachel over, and Rachel was just waiting for her to put to voice what she was practically screaming in her head. "Can I ask a favor of you?" she finally asked.

"I'd love to help you in any way I can," Rachel said. "You do more around here than anyone. Except maybe Jarvis."

Pepper waved her hand at the compliment. "I really don't," she said. "I just keep the lights on."

"And keep Tony in line," Rachel added. "Which in and of itself is a full-time job."

"Don't I know it," Pepper said with a little ghost of a smirk as she leaned back against one of Tony's workbenches and accidentally got a bit of oil on her hand. She frowned at it and rubbed it off, shaking her head at herself. "He's been even more… well, you know how he is when there's a problem."

"So, what can I do for you?" Rachel said before she couldn't hide the smirk and projected out _Mrs. Stark_.

Pepper looked up in something between alarm and pleasure. "You — you shouldn't call me that," she said quickly.

"I didn't call you anything," Rachel replied with a grin. "I just asked what I could do for you."

"But you…" Pepper let out a sigh and shook her head. "That's not going to be my name anyway. I'm _not_ changing it."

"I know, but you're holding it in, and you really shouldn't. Not with the kind of support you'll get from everyone in this tower," Rachel pointed out. "Not one of them has any clue. Except maybe Clint, of all people. Nosy little thing. Of course, if he knows, you can bet Natasha knows — or the secret would be _out_."

"Despite appearances, he _can_ sometimes keep a secret," Pepper said with a small smirk.

"So was he in on it then?" Rachel asked.

"No, but he read Tony's lips about a week ago and… well. He figured it out." Pepper straightened her shoulders a bit. "I told him we were keeping it under wraps and explained why, and he swore up and down not to cross me."

Rachel just smiled her way. "Good. I'm glad to see some respect for the redheads."

"He must have an ingrained fear with Natasha," Pepper laughed lightly before she pointed a finger Rachel's way. "You can't tell anyone either."

"Not to worry," Rachel said. "My mind is a one-way street. No one gets in unless I let them — and I'm not sharing that tidbit."

"Good." Pepper looked a bit relieved and let her shoulders drop a little. "We've been trying to come up with a way to tell everyone, but there's always something ... some new bad guy, some new disaster, some new PR something or other that would make an announcement difficult…" She sighed. "Lately, it's the Purple Man. That's why I wanted to ask you… Well. No one should try to take him on alone, but if you've faced him and know what he's like, maybe you can help me get Tony to remember that _no one_ should face him alone. He's been a pest, and he almost made it through our security at Stark Industries last weekend." She let out a breath. "He'd like nothing more than to get in and start ordering Tony around and messing up the life he's trying to build, and if he knew about us, you know he'd try to mess that up as well — so of course, Tony's being… Tony." She gestured around the workshop. "Staying here or at the mansion and trying to pretend he's not up every night beefing up security again."

"What do you want me to do — specifically?" Rachel asked.

"If you could find out what he's trying to get Tony to do, I could put measures in place to keep him from doing exactly that," Pepper suggested. "And that would let us know if he's breached security or gotten to Tony somehow. Or ... if you could get close enough to just make him _stop_ , I know SHIELD has a cell that is perfectly soundproofed. That's how he works, you know — you have to hear him say it."

"Logan had an idea or two on how to deal with that once I told him how … well…. He has a few ideas that are _not_ a soundproof cell," Rachel said. "Maybe we should let him follow through."

"As much as I appreciate the offer, that's really not… something I'm comfortable with, I'm pretty sure," Pepper said with a frown. "Really, I just want him to stop bothering Tony so he can _sleep_."

"I can make Tony sleep too," Rachel said. "Before we stop the purple creep."

"That might be good," Pepper said, though something like a smirk flittered over her face as she pulled out her tablet again and crooked up an eyebrow to show Rachel the latest pictures Billy had sent the entire team of Tony getting Elin kisses. "But I'm hoping this week will relax him enough that he'll do that on his own," she added. "He loves coming over there, you know. I think the exchange program has done him wonders, really."

"Well, that little one right there is kind of our ambassador half the time," Rachel said. "And she knows how to hit them hard."

Pepper nodded and smiled a bit before she gestured for Rachel to follow her back out of the workshop. "Thanks for letting me talk your ear off," she said with a little smile.

"Any time," Rachel said. "I'll do what I can to help in that little regard." _But if it's on your mind, just think about it really hard, and I'll pick up on it. No reason to disappear into one room or another._ Rachel gave her a little smile at that.

"I'll remember that next time," Pepper agreed. "And try to practice — it's not quite second nature," she added with a little teasing grin.

"No, I suppose not," Rachel said. "But … you're a quick study."

Pepper smiled, laughed, and nodded. "Come on — let's go find Hawkeye. I'm sure he'll be happy there's another person he can share his secret with. He's dying, I know."

"If you want to see something really fun, I'll just project it to him. He'll probably squirm."

Pepper laughed outright and nodded. "I think I want to see that," she agreed.

* * *

When Tammy got up to the roof of the tower, she found Rachel just… sitting up there. Concentrating.

"Oh, sorry. I can come back later…" Tammy said.

"You're fine, just … stay nice and quiet," Rachel said, her eyes closed as she frowned a tiny bit. "Just looking for someone."

"Can I help once you find whoever it is?" Tammy asked, settling down in a corner with the book she'd brought up to read in the first place.

"Only if you've sprouted your telepathic wings," Rachel said. "But even then, I doubt it. I'm sifting through pretty much everyone in the city right now." She let out a little sigh and opened her eyes. "But it can wait, I suppose. What has you hiding here on the roof?"

"Just looking for a little quiet," Tammy replied easily as she let the book hover in front of her. "Some of us do still have homework to do."

"You can tell that to them too," Rachel pointed out. "I know that Kamala and Miles know how to leave others to their work."

"I know," Tammy said. "I just like to have a little space and quiet to concentrate. It's no big deal, and I don't want them to stop with their wedding planning just because I need a little peace to get through these stupid Old English adages." She waved her hand at the book. "My fault for picking an English minor, really."

"Not in the mood to talk weddings?"

Tammy glanced up quickly, blushed, and then shook her head. "That's not what I — no, it's fine," she said quickly. "I just needed some quiet. Really."

"I thought you'd be right in there with them … comparing notes."

"You need a _ring_ and a _fiance_ for that kind of thing," Tammy pointed out with one eyebrow raised. "I have a very cute seven-foot kitty cat."

"So you're not interested in playing with his kitten whiskers?" Rachel replied with a knowing smirk.

Tammy turned even redder. "Shut up," she muttered at the ground, accidentally dropping her book in the process.

"Oh, so you _do_ want to rub his tummy," Rachel teased. "I'll bet he hogs the blankets too."

"I really wouldn't know," Tammy said, still blushing scarlet.

"Right. Not until after you're Mrs. Kitten Whiskers." Rachel grinned. "The babies will be so blonde."

"Wow, you went from boyfriend to husband to father real fast," Tammy said quietly.

"Hey, you're the one courting a very religious boy," Rachel said. "You only have a buffer around K because she already adopted him. Or she'd be picking on you even harder."

"He's…." Tammy let out her breath. "We're still in college, and he's studying to be a doctor, and... " She peeked one eye at Rachel. "Is he… I guess I shouldn't ask that."

"All of this is true. You may be looking at dating for another eight years if you wait for him to get his MD."

" _I'm_ not waiting for the MD," Tammy said. "I'm waiting for _him_."

"Are you sure? I mean, you two can sit on that swing holding hands forever. It's adorable," Rachel said with a sedate smile.

"You're horrible," Tammy said, though she was back to blushing again.

"I am wonderful, and you know it — and you love it," Rachel said before she tipped her head to the side. "Want to know what he dreams about? He's projecting more often than not — so it's hard to miss."

"If I lie and say I don't want to know, you're going to tell me anyway, aren't you?" Tammy said dryly.

"Nope," Rachel said.

"Then… I don't want to know. I think I'd rather find out in person," Tammy said honestly, and with a quiet, slowly growing smile.

"You two are perfect for each other," Rachel said. "So it's just a matter of … when."

"It's just a matter of waiting for him to catch up," Tammy corrected her with a little smile.

"Like I said," Rachel replied, kicking off of the low wall she was leaning on. "A matter of when."

Tammy shook her head and went back to her book. "If you say so." She settled into her corner again and said, without looking up, "But I still don't want to know. Even if I do — I don't want to ruin it. So shhh."

"I'm not one to spoil surprises unless it's a bad one — so don't worry your sweet little head over it," Rachel said as she headed toward the door. "I am, however, going to go looking for this creep. So…. Have fun studying."

"Hey, wait — you're my ride," Tammy called out, scrambling to her feet. "I mean, I could fly myself back to Westchester, but that's a long way."

"I was planning on staying here tonight, but if you're afraid to spend too much time around the lovebirds — come on," Rachel replied over her shoulder.

Tammy snorted out a bit of a laugh and scrambled after her. "No, I was just planning on stopping in town to grab some things for my class," she explained. "I have to teach a lesson next week."

"Alright, but I am _hunting._ I'm going where I need to go," Rachel explained.

"Just drop me off halfway then. I can fly home after the shopping trip," Tammy said. "Or maybe call a cute, tall taxi cab. We'll see," she added with a growing smirk.

"I think you two need a chaperone after dark to keep you on the level," Rachel said. "Wouldn't want a scandal with the bishop before you even get married."

Tammy giggled and rolled her eyes. "I think we can handle one drive home," she said.

"I don't know ... haven't you heard about guys with that particular style of mutation … " She gave her approximation of a growl just to see what Tammy would do.

But Tammy just giggled. "He's never _growled_ at me." She paused. "Not like _that_ anyway," she amended, still smirking to herself.

"Maybe he's not ready yet," Rachel teased. "I've heard rumors, you know."

"You're horrible. And you know it," Tammy accused her, shaking her head and still looking pink.

She was still not quite meeting Rachel's gaze through the entire ride into town until they got to the book shop Tammy wanted to stop at, though she did give Rachel a little wave. "Promise I'll call the cute blonde taxi and tell him to bring his new dad if he really needs a chaperone," she said as she hopped out of the car.

"Try not to get too carried away!" Rachel called out cheerfully, smirking to herself before she headed off.


	8. Trouble with a Capital 'T'

**Chapter 8: "Trouble with a Capital 'T'"**

Tammy headed off into the shop, taking her time as she picked out a few different supplies before she hopped across the street to get some of the _best_ hot chocolate in town, which was perfect for the early fall chill. It wasn't too cold out, but it was breezy — it was the perfect weather for walking down the street along the shops with her hot chocolate. Tyler wouldn't be done with training with the team for another… she glanced at her phone… fifteen minutes anyway, so she might as well enjoy the good weather and do some window shopping before she rang him up for a ride.

She was halfway down the road when she almost ran into a man coming around the corner from a blind alley, and she would have spilled her hot chocolate all over herself and all over him as well if she hadn't caught it with her powers, pulling the hot liquid back into her cup before it could get on anything. "Oh, sorry," she said quickly as she pulled all her things back into her arms — though once she had gathered herself, she realized the man hadn't moved a muscle and was just watching her with a sort of smug look on his face. And ... he was completely purple — just like the senior team had described their attacker before.

She backed up several quick steps just to get a little distance and then shook her head with a tiny frown. "I have to go ... my friend's waiting," she said uneasily.

"Don't go," he said with a smile. "Take a walk with me."

Tammy swallowed hard but was already stopped in her tracks and waiting for him to catch up to her to do just that. She felt her mouth go dry as she stared at this man and reached almost automatically for her phone or her comm, whichever she could grab, because this was _bad_.

"I'll take those, my dear. Just hand them to me."

Her eyes widened as she saw herself handing over her phone and comm. Well, there went a whole bunch of training right down the tubes. Hadn't she been taking telepathic self-defense for years? What was going _on_?

"I think we'll get along delightfully," the man said as he offered her his arm and they strode off into the dark.

They'd gone a few blocks before he picked up the comm and handed it over to Tammy. "I want you to call your friends," he said. "And I want you to say exactly what I tell you to and not a word more."

Tammy nodded wordlessly as she took the comm, her eyes wide as she was realizing just how very much trouble she was in.

* * *

At the mansion, Kate had just put Kari down and was headed down to get some coffee without either Kari or Krissy threatening to spill it all over the place when she passed K on her way and had to smirk. "You make it a habit of wiping the floor with my old teammates?" she teased.

"He … _started it_ ," K defended weakly.

Kate laughed. "Uh-huh," she said, totally and completely unconvinced.

"Okay, how about ... Scott told me to?"

"That's… you have never in your life…" Kate's expression clearly read that she simply couldn't deal with how ridiculous that excuse was, and she just tipped her head back to stare up at the ceiling — which actually got a sigh out of her when she saw a trail of sticky finger- and toe-prints. "Sying and Krissy?" she asked, pointing up.

"Not on my watch — but looks like," K agreed.

Kate chuckled as she shook her head. "Ever since those two learned that the other could do the wall crawling…" She grinned at K. "When Kari figures it out, it's only going to get worse. I blame their fathers."

"Oh, absolutely their fault," K agreed again with a serious nod. "It's always their fathers' fault."

"Unless it's something adorable. Then we take full credit," Kate amended with a smirk.

"Oh no — that's mine's fault too," she said, shaking her head.

"Depends on my mood," Kate said with a dramatic sigh.

"And if a tail was involved, I'd wager."

"Yes, anything with tails and climbing the walls is his fault no matter how cute it is when those two follow Spidey around," Kate said with a grin.

"You should have seen Sying the other day," K said. "He was so upset he walked right up the cabinet on the way to the cookie jar before I got him into a snuggle."

"What happened?" Kate asked. "Was it Krissy?"

K let out a sigh and let her shoulders drop. "Kind of," K said. "He's feeling a little lonely being the only one without a little brother or sister, and some of the kids pointed it out to him when he was trying to help."

Kate's eyes widened with understanding. "Oh. That… Was Jubes there — or — or Noh?"

"Yeah," K said, frowning when she saw the light for one of the comms going off, distracted and knocked off her train of thought. "They handled it, I think."

"I hope so. She was pretty miserable the first time, and I don't think she's ready…" Kate trailed off when she saw the light too.

"Who's out right now?" K asked. "There aren't any missions running."

"Just Rachel and Tammy at the Tower," Kate said. "Unless one of the kids went out for a run or something — you know Scott's been making sure they bring comms."

K picked up the comm and pressed the button. "Go ahead," she said, waiting for an anxious response, so she was a bit more confused when Tammy's voice came through even and calm.

"Send Rachel and Logan and Noh-Varr to the old Dark Avengers headquarters," Tammy said clearly.

"Why, Tammy?" K asked. "What's going on? Are you hurt? I thought Rachel was with you."

"Send those three alone, and tell them not to bring their comms or phones," Tammy said, still in that same clear tone.

"Tell you what — I'll come get you myself and I'll bring my side arms," K half growled out. "Who are you with?"

There was a bit of a pause before Tammy's response. "I'm with the Purple Man," she said calmly.

K clicked off the speaker button and turned to Kate. "Get Noh and Logan. Tell Scott. This is the creep that had Logan and me trying to kill each other."

Kate was already nodding, running off to find the three men — or a bamf, whichever she could find first if she could get a little speed on her side. A telltale _bamf_ told K that she had found one of the little demons.

"When do you want them there?" K asked in as even a tone as she could, trying not to growl. "It'll take some time to find Rachel."

"Tell them to be there at dawn," Tammy replied. "I'll stay here with him until then."

"Hang in there, Tammy," K said quietly.

There was a click at the other end of the line about a second before the first of the bamfs arrived — this one with Logan, who was still holding a can of beer.

K picked it out of his hand and got to work finishing it for him. "Have to wait for the rest of them."

The next little bamf appeared with both Kate and Scott, and a third came with Noh — though there was another _bamf_ as three bamfs came poofing in with Tyler, who looked like he had been in the middle of getting dressed after showering off from training, still shirtless and with a towel over his shoulder.

K looked from the beer in her hand to the men around her. "The creep in purple took Tammy. He had a list of who he wants."

"Is she okay?" Tyler asked, beating everyone else to the punch.

"I don't know," K replied honestly. "I don't think she could answer anything he didn't allow her to, and that wasn't anything she'd say when I asked."

"What _did_ she tell you?" Scott asked, with half a glance at Tyler, who was opening and closing his hands in fists already, biting back a growl faster than any of them had ever seen from him.

"The when, where, and who he wanted in trade," K said as she looked to Scott. "And I'm not on board for the trade. I _am_ going with."

"Whoever it is, they're not going alone," Scott agreed with a sharp nod. "Who did he want?"

"Rachel, Logan, and Noh," K told him frankly.

"No." Noh looked between the group. "I… I don't know how to stop him beyond the earphones Rachel used, and even then… I hear with more than my ears."

"I've got a few ideas," Logan growled out. "Helluva lot more permanent than earphones, too."

"But that's a good place to start," Kate agreed, nodding to a couple of the bamfs, who disappeared with little giggles to go retrieve some music players and earphones for everyone. "And I can stay far enough away not to hear him anyway. Don't need to be close up to shoot."

"You won't be the only one on distance then," Logan said, looking at K. "You're not going anywhere near that creep."

"I only need to get close for a second," K argued.

"We need more sets of eyes on this if he finds a way around the stopgap with the headphones," Scott pointed out. "We can't hang our whole plan on the idea that he's never prepared for an iPod."

"I'm coming too," Tyler said low.

"Not a bad idea," Scott agreed. "If he does anything like he did last time…" He glanced at the two ferals that were half glaring at each other for just a moment. "We may need your help."

"I was thinking I'd do a little more than help."

Scott watched him for a moment and considered him carefully. "The girls will be on distance. You and I will be up close to get them out faster."

K looked completely betrayed for a moment. "Excuse you … I'm far more useful up close."

"K, please," Noh said, turning her way with wide eyes. "Don't argue — let's just get Tammy back safely, and quickly."

"Where's Rachel?" Tyler asked suddenly, looking around the group.

"We're waiting for her to get back," K growled out, glaring hard at Noh. "We have until dawn to figure out who's doing what."

"We have time to find her before we walk into a trap," Tyler said as he started to pace a bit.

"Don't count on it," K muttered. "I've been digging on this creep, and he's smarter than he looks."

"Then she's probably not where her comm is," Kate reasoned. "But we have three super sniffers in the room, right?" She had her hand half raised in the air like she wanted to put a hand on Tyler's shoulder, but he was pacing, so she didn't.

"We can try, but it'll be a waste of time," K said through clenched teeth as she turned toward Scott. "He's probably smashed it and left it in the road. That's what he usually does with cell phones too."

"What he usually does?" Tyler repeated before Scott could get there.

"Do you really think I'd let this guy screw with me, walk away from it, and not find out everything about him down to what he likes to eat for breakfast?"

Tyler frowned harder at that and seemed to get more and more agitated. "I'm going to find her," he said at last. "I don't want her to— I can't just—" He let out a frustrated growl as Scott stepped in and shook his head.

"You can't go running in half-cocked," he said, tipping his head at K. "She's got the information we can use. K, we've got until dawn. We need anything you can give us on this guy."

"Work on a way to keep him out of your ear," she told him. "Like I said — I'm going."

"We've already got the bamfs bringing music and earphones. What else?" Scott said with his arms crossed.

"You _just_ said we can't rely on the headphones. How about a way to communicate?" she countered.

"He wants us to bring Rachel — so he's already given us our communications," Scott said. "She can handle a team linkup — longer than anyone I've seen, too."

"Then if we're going to have her do that, we can wait until we leave and hit the link up, and everyone can just _know_ all I've got. Easier than trying to explain it anyhow."

"So we what, pace while we wait and argue?" Scott shot back, half jerking his head at Tyler.

"How 'bout you stock the freakin' plane with medical supplies?" She leaned halfway over the counter toward him with a definite growl. "Because if junior here gets his panties wadded up as tight as yours are, you're gonna need 'em when he can't patch you up."

"No, go see if you can find Rachel," Scott said without looking away from K. "Ty, you and I are going to find Tammy's last position. Even if it's a dead end, there's no reason not to at least take the chance."

K whipped the comm at him without another word and turned to the bamf nearest her. "Find Rachel," she growled to the bamf, who disappeared in a plume of smoke before K took off at a brisk pace to head outside, going so far as to snarl Logan's way when he tried to follow her. He amazingly stopped and pinched the bridge of his nose as she left.

"Good luck," Logan called out dryly to Tyler and Scott. "I'll try to … defuse the bomb."

"Good luck," Scott replied in almost the same tone as he had a hand on Tyler and was half steering him out the door.

They drove out to where Tammy's last comm signal had been, though by then, the stores along the streets had closed, and there were no people out, either — and no sign of anything notable until they found the comm smashed in the street, along with Tammy's cell phone.

Scott crouched down and picked up the smashed devices with a frown — they were pretty well trashed, with no real way to get any more data from them. K had been right — the guy knew what he was doing.

Scott glanced around, looking for surveillance or traffic cameras, but of course, he didn't see anything in that area — nothing pointed that way. He let out a breath and scrubbed a hand over his face before he looked toward Tyler. "It was a long shot, I know … if you can get their scent, we can try that, but there's nothing on camera."

"It'll end in the road, like the exercises I've had to do with Logan," Tyler said with a little frown.

Scott matched his frown and let out a long breath. "I'll check the cameras in the road just to be sure. There's always a chance," he suggested. "We have a few hours — we might find something." But Tyler frowned a lot harder, and Scott knew as well as he did they weren't going to find anything.

Scott was watching Tyler get more and more frustrated as they headed back to the car — and when they arrived, Rachel was leaning against the side of his car with her arms crossed and a deep frown.

"You didn't have to send bamfs after me; I was coming back," Rachel said.

"Yes we did," Scott countered. "Tammy's gone missing." He glanced toward the glaring blonde feral next to him as he added, "She's with the Purple Man."

"What do you know?" Rachel asked with a concerned frown. "And when do we go after him?"

"We know who he asked for in trade," Scott said, opening the door for her to climb into the front seat. "You, Logan, and Noh — and he wants to meet at dawn at Osborn's old Dark Avengers hideout."

"Do you have a plan?" she asked as she climbed into the car.

Scott glanced at Tyler, silent in the backseat, before he nodded. "We're not sending you guys in alone. Kate, K, Tyler, me — we're all going in to back you up, and everyone will have headphones except the girls on distance shooting."

"If you're going for distance shooting, shouldn't we get Hawkeye too — the blonde?"

Scott looked her way with a raised eyebrow but then nodded. "Not a bad idea; we could always use more backup with this guy in case things go south."

"Great; the Hawks can cover distance. That'll make the link-up easier with all the hard heads in one place."

He gave her a dry look for a moment before he nodded. "Your idea to bring in Clint — you sure you can handle the link up with that many?"

"The number isn't a problem," Rachel said. _But yes, the ferals will be tough._

 _They're all growling. Logan and K have a bone to pick, and Tyler's more agitated than I've ever seen him,_ Scott warned her.

 _And we won't be able to leave Tyler behind,_ Rachel said. _And if what I'm skimming from you is right_ — _we actually need the other two._

 _He asked for Logan, and you know K won't let him go in without her. Not with this guy._

 _So what's the problem? They're not horrible when they're both ticked off at the same direction. Actually helps. A lot._

 _I don't know. You're the telepath,_ he said with a bit of a smirk.

She rolled her eyes at him. "That's it," she told him with a shake of her head. "You're going to take Kate as a tutor on how to use your words."

"Me?" He raised an eyebrow.

"You're every bit as bad as they are — and for all the same reasons," Rachel said. "Like it or not."

Scott gave her a sharp look for that one. "Well, unless you're planning on fast-tracking a week's worth of Kate lessons in the next few hours, we'll put that idea on hold until _after_ we get Tammy back."

"So. How'd you make her mad?" Rachel gave him a little smirk. "You're actually worried about it — so it must have been good."

"Far as I can tell, she's mad I asked her to debrief us on this guy," Scott muttered.

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "So she's been digging up what she can." _Did you consider why she didn't want to share?_

 _Why do you think I took Ty out to a dead end?_ He replied.

 _When we get back, I'll link up everyone but Tyler so she can share freely._

 _Good._ He glanced at the rearview mirror for a second. _Tyler doesn't need to know all the details on this guy. He's already agitated and ready to hit something, and I've got nothing for him for four hours._

Rachel watched Tyler for a moment — as he was frowning between the two Summers. "I reached out to Hawkeye. He'll meet us at the mansion," she said as explanation for why they were so quiet before she turned back to her father. _Let the ferals handle themselves. Worry about your strategy_ — _not how ticked off they are. I thought you knew by now that's one thing you can't control._

 _You'd think I'd learn,_ Scott agreed with a bit of a sigh. _Just felt like that was getting better recently._

 _Until …_ Rachel raised her eyebrows at him. _When did it start to go south again?_

 _Probably when this creep started to mess with us. I don't know_ — _I'm the one with the lasers, not the mind-reading._

She smiled and shook her head. _It doesn't take a mind reader to see what's going on around the house._

 _Yeah, even Charlie's been telling me Logan's in a mood._ Scott smirked. _I just get the flack when this crap goes down. I should be used to it._

 _So … don't side with him so quickly next time,_ Rachel advised.

 _Side with_ him?

 _From what I see of your memory of the whole exchange ... he pushed to protect her, and you didn't even hesitate to agree._

 _I didn't hesitate to agree we needed more eyes in the sky, more distance. She's a good shot, and I wanted to stick by Tyler._

 _But she's one of your most creative thinkers too,_ Rachel pointed out. _So why not let her get creative if it goes south?_

 _I'm not stopping her from doing that. Distance doesn't mean anything_ — _ask the Hawks._

 _I'll bet you anything she thinks you are. You've helped him to keep her out of the line of fire in the past._

 _When she was_ pregnant _or_ hurt _._

 _I'll bet ... no. I_ know _she's just seeing the pattern._

 _So I'm catching flack for Logan. Again. Typical._

She bit her lip and tried not to outright groan before she punched him in the arm. _He takes flack for you all the time. Live with it or don't stop them the next time they talk about disappearing._

He shook his head at her. _Yeah. Don't know why I do that._

 _Yes you do_ — _you just won't admit it. Don't worry; I won't tell anyone._

Scott rolled his eyes at her and then simply focused on getting them back to the mansion — fast — and keeping half an eye on Tyler the whole time.

"When we get back, go suit up," Scott said. "If there's a way to kick this off a little bit faster than he's expecting us — we will."

Tyler didn't respond except to nod, only barely keeping the growl in check. He was clearly itching to get his hands on the guy who had snatched Tammy — and he was gone the second they got back to the mansion.

It wasn't five minutes later that Clint arrived as well, driving in at top speed as usual and hopping out with two quivers and a hard look Scott's way. "Heard Tammy got snatched — tell me where to shoot 'im and I'll make sure it sticks."

"We're meeting him at the old Dark Avengers headquarters at dawn," Scott said as the three of them went to find the rest of their group — Kate and Noh were waiting for them, but all of the ferals were still missing.

Clint raised an eyebrow at that. "Hard place to break into," he said. "I'd know — I did it."

"Then you know the layout and the best points of entry," Scott surmised.

"Yeah, if this creep's got Osborn's old security systems up and running, it'll be a problem," Clint told him frankly. "Osborn's paranoid — telepathic shielding, emergency lockdown procedures, energy barriers… and that was before I poked my nose in it. He upped the ante after that." He tipped his head toward Noh. "But I broke in, he broke out; between the two of us, you have an entrance and an exit plan," he said with a little smirk.

"Alright. As soon as we find the other two, we'll link up so K can fill us in on this guy — and then you and Noh can give us the layout," Scott said with a nod, already heading out himself to find Logan or K — whoever he could find first.

When he did find K, she was heading back inside from the grounds, and he met her halfway. "I need a word."

"I know — I'm headed inside," she replied shortly.

"A private word," Scott said, arms crossed as he tipped his head toward the barn.

"I thought you were in a rush," she countered, glaring for a moment before she made to step around him.

He rolled his eyes. "I am," he said before he picked her up over his shoulder. "I don't have time for this nonsense," he muttered as he carried her back to the barn.

"You're a caveman, you know that?"

"I'm sure I am," he replied shortly as he kept right on until they hit the barn and he set her down.

"What now?" She crossed her arms and looked past him to the partly opened door, clearly considering making a run for it.

"Change in plans. We've got the other Hawkeye to back up Kate, so I need you on the ground with me and Tyler," he told her.

"What's the catch?" K asked. "And what's with the shift?"

"No shift. I needed two eyes in the sky; I have two eyes in the sky."

She relaxed very slightly and openly looked him over slowly — a little move he recognized as searching his body language for deception. "Is that all?"

"One more thing — next time you think Logan's being overprotective and it's _not_ over injury or pregnancy, call him out on it," Scott said with a smirk.

"Oh, I did," she replied with a wicked little smile.

"Good." He shrugged lightly but smirked a bit wider. "He doesn't make the decisions on how the team is deployed around here."

"I know," she said. "But he's been using the same brand of stupid with me that you have been with Annie. Ever since this guy came around. And since you two share a brain half the time …"

"Hey. No need for insults." Scott shook his head. "I needed a second set of eyes up high. And you've got those Stark weapons. That's it. Don't push his crap on me."

"Mm hmm," she said with narrowed eyes. "If you want your intel, we need to get it going before Tyler gets back from wherever you sent him. There was slamming of doors. I'm assuming that was him and not you."

"Yeah, that was him. Thought it might help to get him out and doing something — give you a chance to fill the others in—"

"Slap Logan around you mean?"

"He needs it." Scott gestured back at the barn door. "Let's get this done before Ty gets back. Clint and Noh have intel on the building too."

She looked to the barn door where he'd gestured, then back to him a couple of times. "Oh. Do I get to walk on my own this time?"

"Only the first ride is free."

"You might want to work on that wording, big guy."

He smirked at her and shrugged, already heading out the door. "I've already been told once today I need to work on using my words."

"Yeah, was that Annie?"

"Not today."

She shook her head at him and let him get outside of the barn before she headed out herself, though she took two quick steps before she broke out into a run, making sure to pop him in the shoulder on her way past him.

Once they were inside, K projected out to Rachel to do the link fast without Tyler so the grown-ups could know what this guy's track record was and how he usually operated. She was sure to tell them that this was the creep that had haunted Jessica Jones and that his track record with forcing teenage girls and young women to do things that they would _never_ consider was long and bleak and without boundaries. By the time she was done, not a single person in the room looked anything less than murderous.

"So. The key here," K said looking at each of them in turn, "is to know how to work around a command."

"Find the loopholes," Scott agreed.

"Or keep from hearing them altogether," Noh suggested, gesturing to the earphones.

"Well, that's the plan," Logan agreed. "But one caught up wire and you're vulnerable."

"When you put them on, lace them through your uniform," K suggested. "But whatever happens, make it quick." She looked over to Scott and frowned. "Maybe the ones that are supposed to be there shouldn't have earphones but earplugs instead. Harder to spot."

"You gonna be okay, Bug Boy?" Logan asked.

"I doubt earphones or plugs would work for me. Unless you have a way to stop my entire tympanic membrane..."

"I don't suppose the tower is wired for sound," K said dryly.

"Likely not," Noh said with the smallest of smirks before he nodded at Logan. "I'll be fine so long as we move quickly. And I have been spending time with my intergalactic lawyer."

"Something goes wrong, and I'm knocking you out," Logan warned.

"Please do," Noh agreed without hesitation, and he looked a little bit relieved.

"You need backup that can't hear a thing, I'm ready-made," Clint said with a dry smirk K's way. "If nothing else, I'll come down and sock him in the jaw for you. Can't work if I can't hear him, right?"

"True story," K said. "Got any taser arrows?"

"Electro-shock, yeah," Clint smirked. "Tell me where you want 'em. I already have ideas from your debrief."

"Just take our guys out if they're going to attack us," K suggested.

"Got it. I'll let you and Ty work the guy over then after you get Tammy," he said, tipping his head toward the door Tyler hadn't come through yet. "Me and Katie and Scott here can handle these three if things go south."

"Yeah, we've got your back," Kate agreed, looking up from her quiet conversation with the bamfs, who were busily picking out songs to go on the music players and going through the box of multicolored earplugs to find the blue and purple ones.

"Meantime, I'm going to take Katie, and we'll scout out the place, get ourselves a nice perch, and send the little demons if we spot Tammy or the purple creep before dawn rolls around," Clint suggested. "Get you some real-time info soon as we can."

Scott nodded his agreement, and Kate shared a few quick words with the bamfs before she turned to Clint. "I'm just going to go check in on Kari really quickly," she said. "Make sure she's fed and warm. Kurt can watch the girls while we're gone."

"Yeah, tell my goddaughter hi for me," he agreed with a little smile before Kate pushed out of the room and toward her room — passing Tyler on his way down to meet up with the rest of the team. She thought about trying to say something, but he just looked so worked up…. She'd get him on her way back, she decided.

Tyler was almost to the others when he passed Tony, who was of course up and about even at that time of night, fiddling with a little music player for Sying that he hadn't quite finished yet. He glanced up when Tyler passed and did a full-on double take. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Going on a mission," Tyler grumbled with a little growl.

"Need a hand? I brought a suit ... it's an ungodly hour…"

"You'd have to ask Cyclops."

"Think I will," Tony said, watching Tyler out of the corner of his gaze as he followed the tall young man. Once the two of them got to where the others were gathered, Tony took in the looks on everyone's faces and was half ready to grab his armor right then and there. "What's the story here?" he asked. "Whatcha got?"

Scott looked up for a moment and gestured toward K. "Let her fill you in — we could always use a few more eyes on this." He gave K a look for a second as he was already moving to pull Tyler aside and give him an edited and abbreviated version of K's intel on the guy.

"C'mon, Tony," K said as she pulled him into a different room altogether. "They already know — so I'll make it quick."

Tony almost couldn't help but say, "If that's how you like it," though he didn't quite have the usual teasing sparkle. "What've you got? X-Men nonsense or just general distress or…"

"Not this time," she said as she closed the door behind him once they were in the next ready room over. "This is actually someone you have issues with. Decided to be a pain in our backsides a few weeks ago. Apparently, he liked some of our members."

Tony whistled low. "Well, can't say he has bad taste, depending on who he asked for," he said lightly.

K gave him a little smirk. "He goes by the Purple Man. He has one of our junior team members — pretty little blonde telekinetic. Wants Rachel, Logan, and Noh in exchange."

Tony's light teasing smirk dropped entirely. "You gotta get her out."

"We will," she assured him. "I've kinda got a plan in place. It'll probably go to shit, but ... gonna have to try. And I'm _not_ letting him have Logan or Noh for anything. Rachel I'm not too worried about."

"If you've got a plan, just let me know what I can do. This guy ... he's a pain in my—"

"I know. You have issues with him. I've read all the files. Including the ones that Pepper filed about last weekend."

Tony frowned and ran a hand through his hair. "I fixed the leak; he's not getting anywhere near her or SI," he said, but he sounded a bit distracted and annoyed.

"Yes you did. But there's plenty more he wants to get into." She shook her head a little bit. "But that's not going to happen anyhow. We've got the Hawks on distance. Scott, Tyler, and me for the more up close and personal stuff — and all of us are going to be trying to keep him from getting a message through. Earplugs. iPods. And Rachel will do a really big psy-link for off-the-grid communication. You think you can fit in that group — get Scott and/or Rachel to agree and I have no issues with you doing … whatever."

"At the very least I can get in there and help get the girl out," he said. He was already headed for the door with a far more serious look than usual.

"You wanna play Rocket Man? That sounds great. But Tony..." K said before he could open the door. "Tyler doesn't know what this creep is capable of. He and Tammy are a pretty serious thing — so he can't figure it out before he's positioned right."

"He's gonna figure it out anyway once we get there," Tony pointed out.

"He may already have an inkling," she agreed. "But I don't want him to snap until he's where he can do the most damage."

"Sounds like you guys are ready to let loose," Tony remarked, tipping his head at her.

"We have three pissed off, territorial ferals. What do you think is gonna happen?"

"Yeah… I'll get the girl outta the way of that," he said. "She doesn't need to see you guys go to town after a kidnapping and all that crap on top of it."

"Hopefully it's just the kidnapping — or there will be big problems with everyone involved."

Tony ran another hand through his hair and let out all his breath before he gave K a look. "When's this all supposed to go down?"

"Dawn," she told him. "And Logan's pissed off at him anyhow. So. Should be fun."

"Yeah." Tony shook his head. "Alright ... I'll talk to Cyclops. But if he says no — I'm coming anyway. This is my problem. You guys shouldn't have to put up with it."

"You sound like Clint," K said. "If Scott says no, tell Rachel what your plan is so you know what we're up to."

"No need for insults," Tony shot back. "But I'll be sure to think my plans real hard."

"You act like Scott will say no," K said with a little hollow laugh. "He's pissed off at this guy too. He came here with the Hellfire club under _Emma_. Had Logan and I trying to kill each other — and then told Scott and Annie to duke it out too. He's just pissed off the wrong people all around."

Tony turned to stare at her openly. "Those… are spectacular bad life choices."

"Yeah, well. Annie won her fight. And Logan was winning his. So. All kinds of anger issues happening. Keep out of the front ten rows."

Tony let out a breath of a laugh. "I'm almost sad I missed it — the part where Annie KO'd Cyclops, that is. Don't care too much for the bloodbath I know you two were, but that sweet little Southern woman taking on the leader of the X-Men?"

"Flattened his ass out," K said with a little smile. "So proud of her."

"Take it you taught her then," he said.

"Lil' bit," she admitted. "But we can talk shop on that later. I think Noh could give you the best blow by blow for that one. If you're really nice, I'll even tell you how I snuck around your firewalls."

"I'll be really good," Tony said with a smirk. "Work of genius like that needs to be shared."


	9. Spectacularly Bad Life Decisions

**Chapter 9: "Spectacularly Bad Life Decisions"**

By the time dawn came around, everyone on the rescue team was itching to get this over with and to get Tammy back safely. The Hawks had been hidden away watching the place for a few hours already — and radioed in when they saw the first sign of movement. Though the Purple Man was smart and avoided their eyelines, not coming out in the open until he was ready for the meetup.

Rachel, Noh, and Logan didn't bother to stick to the shadows like the rest of the team did, with Noh's headphones lining their uniforms and a pocketful of earplugs as backups apiece. Logan was already growling a bit — but Tony wasn't sure if it was because of how pissed he was or if it was because Tyler couldn't quite stop the growl and Logan was covering it.

They had been in position for about ten minutes before the Purple Man and Tammy showed up with several of his men. Tammy was still and silent, eyes on the ground and trembling the slightest bit as the creep led her around with his hand on her hip. Her clothes and hair were out of place, and Logan stepped up the growl a bit when Tyler seemed to be on the edge of a full on snarl in seeing her in such a state.

"Everyone step forward," he called out. "Arms out. Don't move." The three of them moved to comply, but Logan had to speak up.

"We're here — let her go," he called out.

The Purple Man just smirked Logan's way for a second before he turned to his men. "Search them."

"I think that's our cue, Noh," Logan whispered low enough just for Noh to pick up. "Before they pull the earphones."

Noh took a steadying breath for a moment. _I can't move. I need something to focus on for a white run to block him out, but until then, any commands given before that are still effective._

Logan growled a bit, cursing under his breath as the Purple Man's men got closer. _Rachel, put me down and out if this doesn't work,_ Logan projected out before he dropped one arm to throw an elbow into Noh's stomach and send a single claw through a spot near his hip that Logan knew was going to hurt like hell before he turned to fight the men coming toward them.

The Purple Man looked annoyed but not surprised that they'd come prepared for him and pointed both his men and Noh at Logan with a command to "put him on the ground."

It was enough for Noh to be able to move and jump into a white run, though he did have to rush Logan first, the command still in play as he hit Logan hard in the middle of his chest to send him to the ground — stopping Logan's heart with the hard hit. But when the Purple Man tried to order Noh to get Logan restrained, Noh wasn't paying him any attention.

Rachel was the only one who could hear the single-minded mantra that had filled Noh's mind with the white run: _No distractions are permitted. The mind is still. There is no fighter. Fighting is accomplished; that is all._ He went right for Tammy to snatch her from the Purple Man and pull her into a bridal carry faster than the creep could react, and he was halfway across the room before the Purple Man even realized he'd lost his hostage. And the second Tammy was out of danger, the rest of the team could move in.

Tyler burst forward with a look none of them had seen on his face before — though to those that had fought Sabretooth, it was almost familiar. K made the dash for Logan and had to take a moment to make sure he was going to be alright. He was more or less fine, just a bit out of sorts for a moment before he let her pull him to his feet, and the two of them rushed forward to back up Tyler.

Noh had zipped up the side of Kate's perch to bring Tammy to the waiting archer, who was entirely ready to wrap the young woman in a comforting hug. But as soon as Noh put her down, Tammy lashed out, reaching out with one hand to toss Kate from her perch and to pull her bow and quiver from her in the process before spinning on her heel to fire an explosive at Noh — Kate's lessons in archery had clearly paid off, even if Tammy was still cheating and guiding her arrows telekinetically.

Tony managed to catch Kate before she could hit the ground, but Noh was blown back — and the white run evaporated as he skidded along the ground, wincing in pain. He obviously hadn't been expecting that from Tammy — though he was chiding himself for not considering the possibility that the Purple Man would have given her an order just in case.

Noh came to a stop near where the Purple Man was, and the man looked even more purple than before. "Tell me what you just did — and who orchestrated it," he demanded.

Now no longer in a white run, Noh could only glance up at the man openly. "It's called a white run. I can block incoming distractions. K suggested I use it to block your commands."

Logan and K were working their way closer while the Purple Man hid behind droves of innocent people commanded to stop them — and for an instant, he caught her gaze long enough for her to give him a glaring smirk and flip him off.

He sneered at her before he turned back to Noh. "Don't go into a white run again unless I tell you to," he said with obvious annoyance. "Now, go and kill that woman," he added, pointing K's way as Noh pulled himself to his feet and winced the slightest bit before he broke into a run toward K.

Logan snarled out in obvious frustration before he called out to Noh. "Fight it, damnit!"

But Noh rushed right past him and barrelled into K at full speed, the only sign that he was trying to fight back the low hiss that only the ferals could hear that meant he was incredibly upset as he left a nail in K's arm that she only just pulled out and tossed before it would have exploded.

She bit back a growl, and as he rushed her a second time, she grimaced a bit before she head butted him square in the face, knocking him back a few steps and breaking a little more than his nose. "He didn't say when," K whispered his way very quietly. "Or that you had to be quick about it."

Noh paused the slightest bit, his eyes wide as he gave her an imperceptible nod and backed off the slightest bit, though he still had a grip on her shirt.

"But you still need to make it look good. Don't worry. I'll heal," K promised.

"I'm sorry about this," he muttered to her low as he pulled back for a punch that, if he'd been using his full strength, would likely have shattered a skull but instead just sent her flying and knocked her out cold before she'd hit the ground. He was still a bit skittery and kept glancing her way as she was bleeding, reminding himself of the loopholes K had given him to work with as he took a few calming breaths.

But seeing K hit the ground like that had completely tripped Logan of whatever control he was so carefully trying to grasp onto. With an ear-splitting snarl, he rushed through the line of people trying to stop them and pulled back to punch the purple creep in the throat.

The crowd pulled him back from the Purple Man. In a matter of moments, Logan and Rachel both had lost their earphones, but it didn't matter much — the man could hardly breathe, let alone speak.

And nearby, with Tammy actively trying to pitch Tony into a wall every time he got close to her to try and help, Clint — currently hearing aide-less — just slid down to where Noh was half bent over K and still partly muttering to himself about the loopholes. "I got her," he promised Noh before he glanced over at the Purple Man and Tyler as the young man finally caught up to the creep in charge.

"Keep him from talking, Ty!" Logan bellowed, trying not to hurt the people pulling at him too much.

Tyler let out a snarl that had the Purple Man backing up several steps before he hit the guy hard enough that the others who didn't have earplugs or earphones in could _hear_ the crack that meant his jaw was broken as he went flying sideways, though Tyler followed that up with another loud snarl as he pounced to pin the guy and start to lay into him.

Clint couldn't help but wince watching Tyler get to work before he glanced to where Scott was trying to help Tony and Kate get Tammy out of the sky without hurting her — even as she had picked up Tony's armor and was all but using him as a blunt instrument against Scott.

He bit his lip for just a second before he fitted an arrow and let out all his breath. "Sorry, kiddo," he muttered as he put a tranq in Tammy's shoulder, which freed up Tony at last as he twisted to catch Tammy and Scott spun to see Clint and Noh with K trying to hold back the group of people the Purple Man had controlled who were pressing around the three of them.

 _I got Tammy,_ Kate projected out after Tony gently set her down, and she shooed the two men toward where the fight was as Scott was already calling for Rachel.

 _Think you can break this guy's hold on the crowd here now that he's not giving new orders?_

Rachel let out a breath. She'd been more or less out of the fight just trying to keep the team connected. Keeping the three _very_ angry ferals in the loop with as hard as it was to hold on to just one of them … she was wearing down faster than she liked. _I've got it,_ Rachel projected out, though the fire was already glowing brightly in her eyes.

 _Focus on the ones around Logan first so he can get free to help Tyler,_ Scott said.

 _Tyler isn't going to be fighting much longer,_ Rachel agreed as she focused on that tight group. Without realizing what she was doing, the fire began to grow around her as she lifted off the ground. _It's not the same as a psychic hijacking._

But as soon as Scott saw the fire, he forgot about the psychic link for a second as he called out, "Rachel!" and was all but shouting through their link, _Rein it in!_

"I've got this," Rachel both said and projected, perfectly calmly. Her face looked relaxed as the Phoenix fire rushed out from her and toward the group of people around Logan — but it didn't burn them as Scott had thought it would. Instead, it simply knocked them back and unconscious.

The fire was enough to get Tyler to look up from pounding on the purple creep, and with his attention and fury distracted for a moment, he seemed to blink and take a breath, looking back down at the semi-conscious and totally-unable-to-speak Purple Man he was still holding up by the collar of his shirt. His eyes widened for just a second, and he dropped the Purple Man, backing up fast.

As soon as Tyler stepped back from the guy, Logan rushed forward and snarled Tyler's way. "I've got it from here. Go check on your girl." He'd _had_ a handful of claws out ... but when he drew his arm back, he retracted them. Instead, he reached forward … and the screaming started.

Scott and Noh both looked concerned — and torn between concern over Rachel, whatever Logan was doing, and concern for Tyler… But Clint couldn't hear the screaming, so he had leaned forward to see what was going on and almost immediately regretted it when he realized Logan had decided to permanently fix their purple problem by cutting out the guy's tongue. No way to give commands if he couldn't speak or be understood, after all.

"O-kay, that's one way to deal with him," Clint muttered, and even through the armor, Tony's entire body language toward Clint was just one big "How is _that_ your reaction."

Logan was predictably bloodied when he stood up and started to walk back toward the group. "Did I forget anything?"

"No, I think that's sufficient," Noh said, shaking his head before he glanced down at K. "I'm sorry I hurt her."

"Is she breathing?" Logan asked, still not blinking as he glared from one person to the next.

"Yeah. And I'm picking up a pulse. Just knocked her silly," Tony assured him.

"Then everything else will come back," Logan said with a nod before he made his way over to pick her up incredibly gently. "We waiting for SHIELD or just leaving?"

Tony and Clint shared a glance before Tony tipped his head at Logan and K as Kate, Tammy, and Tyler met up with them, still trying to wipe the blood off his hands on his pants. "You guys get the girls home. We'll deal with SHIELD," Tony said, motioning to Clint.

"And keep an eye on the creep," Clint agreed, already putting his aides back in as he started to comb over the unconscious crowd Rachel had knocked out. "And see where these guys belong — keep the bystanders safe. You know. All that jazz."

"Thank you," Scott told them both. He was already headed over to Rachel, who was no longer brimming with fire. He put a hand on her shoulder and very quickly looked her over. "You alright?" he asked carefully.

"Fine," Rachel said with a shrug. "It's hard to keep up the full control over everything and keep everyone safe, but … yeah. I'm fine."

Scott watched her for a second like he didn't quite believe her before he let out a breath and pulled her into a hug that was equal parts relieved and proud.

"We were all linked up," Rachel said with a bit of a blush. "If I was losing it, believe me — you'd know."

"Be that as it may... " He let out a breath. _You scared the crap out of me,_ he added, projecting it for just her to hear.

She couldn't help but grin at that and squeeze him harder. "Sorry."

 _Just glad you're alright is all._ He cleared his throat and stepped back a bit, but he kept his arm around her shoulders with a bit of a twinkle in his eye. "Let's get you home. Everybody could use a good rest after the night we just had."

When they got to the plane, Logan found his favorite spot in the rear of the blackbird to settle in with K on his lap, curled into the corner where it was quiet and they could have a bit of privacy while he completely gave up pretending he wasn't concerned.

Kate slipped up past them with Noh to the cockpit, leaving Tammy with Tyler as Tyler had her half curled into him as well — looking much like the two ferals but not quite as curled, since she was still half groggy from Clint's tranq arrow.

When she finally started to come out of it and look around herself, he could feel her tense and panic for a moment before she recognized where she was and grabbed hold of his uniform to hide her face in his chest and start to _cry_. "What happened?" she asked through her tears, still trying to orient herself. "Someone shot me…"

"Do you want me to try and heal it?" Tyler asked quietly. "I understand if you don't want me to."

She was still half-hiding in his shirt as she considered it. "I don't know," she said honestly.

"It's okay. Just … let me know what you want me to do, and I'll do it."

"I… are you okay?" she asked, avoiding the question for the moment as she seemed to notice that he was a bit bloody for the first time since she woke up.

"I'm fine," he said mildly, then drew in a deep breath as he nodded a few more times than he needed to. "I didn't get hurt. I promise."

She glanced up at him for a moment and seemed to be studying him. "We'll talk about it later," she finally decided before she leaned into him and closed her eyes, more or less using him as an anchor more than anything else as the still slightly groggy young woman fell asleep with her head on his chest.

By the time they landed, Logan and K were entirely wrapped up in their corner with each other, and Scott had _finally_ stopped giving Rachel backward glances that alternated between proud and worried — finally settling on proud when it was clear she really was fine.

"I'm taking Noh down to Hank," Kate told Tyler on her way out of the jet after they landed. She tipped her head at the still sleeping Tammy. "You should bring her."

"Yeah," Tyler said quietly. "Good idea." He looked a bit concerned for a moment before he followed Logan's lead and very gently scooped Tammy up and followed them out of the plane. They parted company as Logan and K turned toward the elevators and Tyler, carrying Tammy, followed Kate and Noh to where Hank was waiting — looking incredibly worried.

"These are our only two," Kate told him as soon as she got in the door.

"The only two that'll come down, you mean," Tyler corrected.

"And Noh's only coming because he can't hide the fact that his hip's so screwed — so Jubes would send him down anyway," Kate agreed as she half glared at her friend, and he looked a bit sheepish as he let her lead him to a seat.

"So what malicious malady has brought you to my lab today?" Hank asked as he looked first at Tammy.

She'd been very still and so well curled into Tyler that Noh was a bit surprised to see that she was awake and no longer resting in his arms as she peeked her eyes open at Hank. "I…" She trailed off and opted to hide in Tyler's chest again.

Kate watched the two junior X-Men for a moment before she broke in to help Hank. "The Purple Man kidnapped her, and she got hit with one of Clint's tranq arrows," she explained in a near whisper.

Hank froze, his eyes narrowed ever so slightly at the news as he looked between the little cluster of people in front of him. "I see." He tipped his head down to her level to speak only to her and to try to assess her a bit more gently. "Would you come with me for a moment, my dear?"

She glanced at Tyler for a moment before she nodded, even quieter than usual as she more or less floated down from Tyler's arms to stand on her own. "Alright," she said, whisper-quiet.

"We won't be too long, but a bit of privacy, please," Hank rumbled gently to the rest of the group.

Kate met his gaze for a second and nodded, already moving to herd the two boys a little further away. "You still keep those IV packs for Noh in the same place?" she called out over her shoulder, figuring she could keep them both busy for Hank.

"That's where they'll always be found," Hank agreed before he pulled the curtain, and it was clear that the two of them were just chatting ridiculously quietly for a good long time as Kate had Tyler helping her with Noh to give him something to focus on.

By the time Hank was done with Tammy, it was clear that he'd done some sort of almost hands -off exam and had also taken several minutes to simply hug her tightly in a very snuggly blue bear hug. When he pulled the curtain back, she was still curled into his shoulder. "I think you have a visitor that is anxious to see you," he told her as he gave Tyler a look.

Tyler really didn't need any further prompting to make his way over to her to take over on the hugs. As soon as he was close enough, Hank gently shifted so that Tammy more or less leaned into Tyler's shoulder too, and the two were wrapped up in a second.

He took a few steps toward Noh and Kate with a grim expression on his face. "Now. What kind of trouble did you find yourself in?"

Noh glanced to the two snuggled-up junior team members and waved his hand. "I cannot fight the Purple Man's suggestions well, not with my auditory sensitivities. So Logan, ah, helped my focus." He finally took his gaze from Tyler and Tammy and looked to Hank. "I'll be fine soon enough — you should look to K instead. I'm afraid I did her some real damage under that man's influence."

He frowned a bit deeper as he tried to address one issue at a time. "You should thank Logan for his knowledge of Kree anatomy," Hank said. "He missed everything vital and went straight through two pressure points."

"And for that I am very grateful," Noh agreed quickly. "I only wish he'd slowed me down better before I attacked someone dear to me. But I suppose I am being a hypocrite and thinking of what could have been again."

Hank let out a weary sigh that didn't seem quite as calm as it usually did in such a situation. "What exactly should I expect if I were to go up there to _attempt_ to check on her?"

"A nasty head wound, for one thing, and I may have damaged something when I initially attacked. Unfortunately, the head wound occurred when I was _holding back_." Noh looked thoroughly ashamed.

"I'm not sure what you would have broken on her unless it was yourself," Hank teased as best he could. "But considering your lack of puncture wounds or slash marks, I think it's safe to say she wasn't trying to hurt you either."

"She wouldn't hurt her sparkle pants moon man," Kate said with a quiet smirk that didn't quite reach her eyes either. She met Hank's gaze for a moment. "I've got this one if you want to check on the other resident injured healer."

Hank looked toward Tyler and Tammy for a moment. "Yes. I think I'd like to know what happened tonight." Hank left the med bay, just barely suppressing a growl that finally broke loose once he was in the elevator alone — and trying to keep it under wraps. He managed to get it under control by the time the doors opened again, but only just.

When he finally got up to see Logan and K, he was a bit disturbed to see exactly how out of it K was. "This doesn't seem like a simple concussion," Hank said as he tried to keep it medical as long as possible.

"No, this is what happens when you bounce your brain in your skull a few dozen times," Logan muttered, the growl low and somehow not quite backing off in spite of the fact that he'd had what amounted to the last word with the creep that had orchestrated it all.

Hank's frown only deepened as he gave K a quick once-over, the low growl only threatening to break loose again at the fact that she was out of it enough that the examination wasn't nearly as difficult as usual to do. He tried to keep his tone conversational as he finished up and glanced to Logan. "I just spoke with Noh in the medical bay, and he gave me some idea of what happened," he said by way of explanation.

"I didn't get close enough to Tammy to really find out for sure _what_ happened," Logan answered with a little growl. "But I got the impression from the purple creep I had _words with_ that it could have been a lot worse." He paused and took in Hank a bit more carefully. "How bad was it?"

At the question, Hank didn't try and stop the low growl that seemed to keep going long after it started. "Yes, it could have been worse. Had he kept her any longer, I believe you would have known the moment you caught the scent," he said simply, though it was in such a low tone that it was almost inaudible over the growl.

Logan's hands balled up into fists, and his jaw tightened before he glanced toward K. "Doc," he said finally in a barely-controlled voice. "I think my wife needs your attention for a few hours."

Hank simply met Logan's gaze and gave him a wordless nod as he pointedly moved out of Logan's path to the door.

As soon as he was cleared of his old teammate, Logan darted out the door and went straight down to the hangar, ignoring anyone that tried to talk to him on the way as he hopped into a mini jet and left. He didn't call anyone, knowing full well where SHIELD would take the severely wounded prisoner before they shipped him off to somewhere permanent.

He landed on the helicarrier without getting clearance and punched the airman on guard that tried to ask for ID on his way through. After he creamed the first one or two guards, the rest got the message and didn't try to ask for anything — apparently whoever was in charge on the bridge very quickly radioed out for them to stand down.

Logan made his way down to the high security cells, and the men there only started to tell him he had to wait before they backed off — particularly when he sliced through the video feeds on the way into the unit and the cell that held the Purple Man. To his credit, the creep looked terrified to see Logan back for more. Just before Logan stepped into the Purple Man's cell, he snarled at the guards to get out.

The guard shift changed before Fury made his way down to the cells and dismissed them for the time being — the second shift haunted more than the ones that had been there originally when Logan went in.

Fury waited for Logan to finish up and was halfway through his second cigar, leaned against the wall and watching Logan step out of the cell before he offered Logan a cigar as well, wordlessly smirking his way.

Logan glared up at him for a moment before he took it from him and held his hand out for a lighter. When Fury handed it over and the stogie was lit, Logan took a moment to take a puff or two before he drew in a deep breath. "Been waitin' long?"

"Long enough to know you were drawin' it out," Fury replied almost lazily.

Logan watched him for a moment. "So... since I got here then, eh?"

Fury smirked the slightest bit and shook his head. "About halfway through, I'd bet. You shook up some of my best guards."

"Buncha babies," he grumbled.

Fury didn't give any indication that he agreed, but he did take a puff for a moment, let out a breath, and said, simply, "I didn't come down until the second shift of guards developed a healthy respect for the human body's resiliency."

"I'm a delicate touch," Logan said.

Fury nodded his agreement on that one. "You get what you came for, then?"

Logan was quiet for a while as he weighed it out. "About as much as I could."

Fury regarded Logan for a moment before he nodded again. "Don't hit the agent on the way out like you did the one coming in," he said with a bit of a smirk.

"Yeah, well. They must not have gotten the memo to keep the hell outta my way. They'll remember next time," Logan returned with a smirk of his own before he looked up at a clock and sighed. "Looks like I blew a little bit past my couple hours."

At that, Fury's smirk seemed to widen. "You gonna get in trouble with the Mrs.?"

"I doubt it," Logan replied. "She couldn't remember her name when I left from the damage she had off that fight."

"Nothing permanent, I hope."

"Doubtful," Logan muttered. "Just needs to rest up." The two of them headed toward the flight deck. "Think they tanked up my ride?"

"I think the one you hit would even shine your shoes," Fury said with an unrestrained smirk.

"Fair enough. You're comin' down off this thing for poker next time," Logan told him before he had to smile his way. "Don't want to piss off the Mrs."

Fury chuckled at that. "Fair enough," he replied. "See you next Tuesday."

"Bring cash this time," Logan called out as he headed to the mini-jet. As he approached it, two deck men scattered for other things to do — on the other side of the flight deck.


	10. Believe It or Not, Ty, This is Mild

**Chapter 10: "Believe It or Not, Ty, This Is Mild"**

After Hank had left the med bay, Tyler stayed with Tammy for a while. She didn't exactly seem like she was up to much except to snuggle into his shoulder and try to get a hold of herself for a while, and Tyler readjusted his hold on her to try and make her more comfortable until she was ready to go.

It wasn't until after Kate had patched Noh up and taken him upstairs to Jubilee that Tammy finally picked her head up off of Tyler's shoulder and watched him for a moment. "Are you alright?"

He was honestly surprised, not just at the question, but at the fact that she'd said anything, since she had been content to just… try to snuggle as best she could as she dealt with what had happened. "I'm fine," he told her, but this time, instead of just letting it go, Tammy glared at him openly.

"Try again," she said.

"I'm just ... I'm okay. I was worried."

She bit her lip and nodded at that. "Yeah, I saw you," she had to agree before she met his gaze again. "And what else? You're not okay — and it's not just because I scared you. Which I'm sorry for, by the way. I shouldn't have been out alone."

He shrugged a little bit and refused to meet her gaze. "It's been a really long night."

"For everyone," she said. She sat up a little bit so she could see him better and narrowed her eyes as she was clearly giving him a once-over.

"I didn't get hurt at _all_ ," he promised before he let out a sigh and glanced down at himself. "Appearances aside."

"Alright," she said, relaxing the slightest bit. "Then … where'd that come from?" She gestured to his bloodied uniform.

"I lost my temper," he said softly. "And I beat the crap out of that guy." He paused for a moment. "And anyone in my way between me and him."

"So you're not okay," she surmised, glancing over what he'd just told her for the moment as she watched him. "I know you hate losing your temper."

"I nearly killed him ... but..."

"But you didn't," Tammy finished. She took in a deep breath and seemed to be steadying herself to help him now that she had finished crying.

"Yeah. Rachel … and then Logan…"

"You didn't kill anyone between you and … the guy?" Tammy asked.

"No, of course not," he said quickly, looking alarmed.

"Then that's better control than you had before," she pointed out. "I mean, last time… with Weapon X… It sounds like your training is working." She gave him a reassuring smile and rested a hand on his arm. "See? You're doing just fine."

"I don't know about that," he argued lightly.

"Hey." She straightened up a little and jutted her chin out to argue with him. "Last time, they just grabbed me, and you killed them. This time…" She paused. "I was _gone_ and you just beat him up. That's restraint." She gave him a nervous little grin.

"I just don't know if I did the right thing."

"You did." Tammy didn't even hesitate when she said it, and it was the first time since Tyler met her that she sounded anything like _bitter_.

"But did I do _enough_?"

Her eyes widened as she looked at him. "Ty, I'd _never_ ask you to kill anyone — no matter _what_."

"Didn't say you did, or that you would."

"And I wouldn't want you to — and — and you shouldn't, because you'd be miserable about it, even more than you are now and…" She seemed to be looking for the right words. "And he deserved what he got. So … so there."

"Did you… have any injuries you'd like me to fix? I can do that much at least," Tyler said, trying to change the subject however he could.

She gave him a little smile at that and tried very hard to joke. "Any excuse to hold my hand," she teased him as she grabbed his hand in hers.

"I'd offer to kiss all your boo boos, but I don't want to be too forward," Tyler teased a bit.

She broke into a little grin and had to lift herself up telekinetically so she could give him a quick little kiss because he was so much taller. "There's my Ty," she teased him before she set herself back down, still holding his hand. "Go ahead, Lifeguard," she prompted him gently. "Fix me up."

He gave her a tiny smirk and concentrated a bit, frowning slightly at the minor little scrapes and whatnot that she'd acquired, but it took next to no time at all before he let out a breath of relief.

"Do you feel up to some breakfast? Noh got hurt, so you know there will be pancakes," she offered, still holding his hand and watching him carefully.

"That's probably a really good idea," Tyler said. "You need to recharge a little bit."

"Pancakes and then a nap," she agreed with a little stretch that she exaggerated just enough to see the little smirk. "I'm calling in sick to school today. Taking my weekend early."

"I think that's smart," he replied. "I'd say I'd join you, but I already keep Fridays clear."

"Lucky," she laughed quietly. "I tried, but that didn't work."

"I just registered faster than you did," he said with a smirk.

"It's all those summer classes — puts you even more ahead of me than your age," she teased.

"I just want to get it over with. Classrooms never were my thing, and I have eight years of school to try to cram into as few as possible." The two of them kept up their small talk all the way to the kitchen, where, as Tammy had predicted, there were pancakes. Lots and lots of pancakes — and lots of giggling little kids that were happy to see both of them.

Sying was still with his dad, watching with the same expression Jubilee had to make sure he ate — but the rest of them clamored for Tyler and Tammy's attention. Chance wanted to show Tyler what he and Charlie had made with their paper and glue and little paint sets — and Krissy went right to Tammy to inform her that Kari was "really loud" and she just wanted to snuggle with Tammy for a while.

Elin hadn't left Kurt's side, and James was insisting that he hold him all through breakfast — both of them watching all of the goings on around the kitchen fairly quietly. Kate had Kari in the corner seat and had clearly just finished burping her as she was readjusting the tiniest elf in the kitchen, one eye on Tyler and Tammy as the two junior X-Men filled their plates. "Have you two gotten any sleep yet?" she asked.

"Um, no … not yet," Tyler admitted. "Thought we'd grab a bite to eat first."

"Smart," Kate said. She was watching Tammy with little Krissy as Krissy 'helped' Tammy eat her pancakes. "Hank cleared you both then?" she asked, and Tyler got the feeling she was saying it just as much to them as to Kurt, who had the slightest of frowns as he watched his wife's expression for a moment.

"Yeah, and Ty fixed me up," Tammy said, giving Tyler's arm a little squeeze as she said it. "We're both okay." She paused, then added, "Well, as okay as can be. We'll be more okay later after we get a little food and some sleep." She pointedly refilled her orange juice as well as Tyler's as she said it, still with half an eye on Tyler so she didn't see Kate and Kurt sharing another look.

"Is K alright?" Tyler asked, trying to get out from under the spotlight. "She didn't seem up to speed last I saw her."

"Noh bounced her around pretty well," Kate said quietly enough that only he and the ferals could hear. "Adamantium skull's the only reason it didn't shatter. But Hank's with her right now — I sent him up."

"Why?" Tyler asked, skipping over the quiet talk. "I thought Logan said she'd be fine."

"She will be," Kate said quickly. "He's just checking."

"Because despite what our feral friends think, we _do_ worry when they get hurt," Kurt supplied with a little raised eyebrow. "And with this man in particular, the injuries aren't always physical, I understand."

"Oh, that reminds me." Kate readjusted her grip on Kari so she could pull something out of her jeans pocket and slide it Tammy's way — and Tyler could see when he glanced over that it was a business card with a phone number on it for a name he didn't recognize.

 _Telepaths don't count as therapists._ _TALK_ _to someone_ , Kate had written on the back of the card, though it wasn't immediately clear who it was addressed to. _I'll foot the bill. She's been working with me for almost fifteen years, so I trust her. No shame in it._

Tammy looked up at Tyler for a moment and quickly pocketed the little card before Krissy could snatch it from her. "Thanks," she said quietly.

When Krissy finally got tired of helping Tammy with her breakfast, she climbed down to go grab Elin to play with her, and Kurt very gently handed James to Tyler. He had to smirk when James snuggled right into Tyler, too — not trying to crawl after his big sister like usual — before Kurt went back to gently kiss Kate on the forehead. "I'm going to check on K," he told her then waited long enough to see her smile and nod before he teleported away and reappeared in Logan's room… though he hadn't expected to find Hank there with K and no Logan.

"Where did he slip off to and when will he be back?" Kurt asked. "This can't be as good as they're making it sound downstairs if she needs you sitting with her like this." He was watching K sleep — and it looked as if she hadn't moved in quite some time.

"Even with her healing abilities, it takes some time to recover from severe brain trauma," Hank said without looking up from K.

"How severe?" Kurt asked, looking more agitated.

"It likely would have been fatal if not for the adamantium in her skull," Hank told him honestly, and Kurt could hear the slightest of growls in his voice that he simply couldn't stop.

"Then … where is Logan?" Kurt asked with a frown. "It seems like he should be here with her."

"I'm sure he'll be back soon, and until then, she is in good hands. I would hope you'd know that," Hank said mildly, though with a still stern expression.

"Henry. Where is he?"

Hank finally looked up at Kurt, and Kurt saw the full force of the fury just behind Hank's expression that he was just keeping in check as the good doctor removed his glasses and cleaned them for something to do with his hands. "He's gone to have a talk with the Purple Man," he said frankly.

"Won't that be difficult," Kurt said dryly. "Kate told me what happened."

"I doubt he'd be thrilled with any answers the Purple Man could give him — even if he cared to listen," Hank said with a deep glare.

"So he went to kill him then," Kurt guessed. "Why go back?"

This time, Hank didn't quite keep the growl in as it echoed a bit in the room around them. "He wasn't sure of the extent of the man's crimes until after I finished my examinations," Hank said, his teeth bared the slightest. "And I think K's injuries likely distracted him — they are severe," he added, trying for a more reasonable tone that Kurt raised an eyebrow at.

"How long ago did he leave, then?" Kurt asked in a much more subdued tone. "I'm just trying to guess at when he'll return."

"I'd guess he's only just arrived at the helicarrier," Hank said. "He should be back soon enough — he asked me to keep an eye on things here for a couple hours."

Kurt let out a breath and sank into the chair nearby. "Is this worse than when Sinister worked her over?"

"No," Hank assured him. "No, then she had to re-grow some of her gray matter. This is severe trauma and bruising."

"And at the risk of setting you down the wrong path ... Tammy. Does she need to talk to someone?"

Hank paused for a moment. "I'm certain she should," he said.

"And are your medical duties … done for her?"

Hank let out a breath and nodded clearly for Kurt to see. "She should be fine, medically speaking," he promised almost gently. "I'm more concerned for her mental welfare — and Tyler's," he admitted just as gently. "It wasn't as bad as it could be, but that doesn't mean her experience was anything but damaging."

"I should talk to him," Kurt said. "And offer to do the same for her."

"Thank you; I think he would appreciate it," Hank said, a bit of a smile coming to his face. "I know he thinks a lot of your advice."

"He's a wonderful young man," Kurt said with a little smile before he turned toward where K still had not moved. "Please, let me know if you need a break."

"I'm sure one of your little friends will get you long before I even think of a break," Hank said with a small smirk. He gestured at K's little bamf friend, who Kurt saw now was curled up, almost hidden in the covers next to K except for the very tip of a tail.

"Good," Kurt said with a nod. "I'll be available." With that, he slipped out of the room before he teleported down to the living room, where he was sure that the young couple would be taking an opportunity to snuggle up after breakfast.

"Tyler, have you got a moment to spare?" Kurt asked.

Tyler glanced up at Kurt even as Tammy was already nodding for him. "Go ahead; I'm just going to sleep," she told him, stealing a blanket from over his shoulders for herself and pointedly curling in the couch and not really giving him much choice in the matter.

Tyler almost shook his head at her before he let out a breath and got up from the couch to follow Kurt. "What can I do for you?" he asked.

"I wanted to make sure that you're alright after all that happened this morning," Kurt said frankly. "A lot was done and said … and not said."

"I'm really okay," Tyler tried to explain. "I wasn't hurt at all—"

"No, but Tammy was. And K … and Kate told me what Logan did. I know you think highly of him, so that had to be hard. Not to mention Rachel letting herself loose a bit. That's all very hard to process."

"Yeah, I've… never seen ... well, any of that," Tyler admitted at last. He gave Kurt a rueful sort of look. "I don't even know how to describe it when Tammy asks what happened."

"Well. Let's just start with the least upsetting thing," Kurt said. "We can work our way up to the others."

Tyler almost couldn't help but smirk. "Right ... well. I guess it says something about the kind of night we had when the least upsetting thing is an interdimensional fiery terror?"

Kurt had to smile at that. "Yes, well, when you try to label things, it does tend to get out of the bounds of our mental capacity."

"Thus the hard time explaining it to Tammy," Tyler pointed out. "I think it might just be one of those you have to see it to understand. And, I'll be honest, I'm fine with her never seeing it."

"It truly is," Kurt agreed. "But I should warn you — watching Rachel with the Phoenix is much easier than her mother. Jean ... could never control it."

"That was easier?" Tyler raised both eyebrows at Kurt.

"Jean very nearly let it destroy the planet," Kurt told him. "Logan had to kill her. It was … not good for any of us."

"No, that doesn't sound like it was," Tyler said in a subdued tone, eyebrows still raised as he took it in for a moment. "I guess that would explain why Scott was panicking the whole time. We could all hear it in the linkup."

"Well, it happened more than once," Kurt said. "He had a right to be panicky."

"Yeah, no kidding." Tyler let out all his breath as he thought it over and then simply had to shake his head. "I literally can't imagine that."

"I hope you never see it," Kurt said gently. "Tell me — did anyone die when the Phoenix made its magnificently terrifying appearance?"

"No, nobody died last night," Tyler promised quickly.

"Proof then that she had full control; that's wonderful to hear," Kurt said with a tiny smile.

"She was pretty wiped out. Scott just took her upstairs once we got home," Tyler admitted. "I can't imagine…" He trailed off and shook his head. "I have to admit, I'm kind of glad I'm on the team _now_ and not then," he said with a little bit of a smirk.

"So aside from her being a bit more intimidating than you'd bargained for — what next?"

"I guess…" Tyler seemed to consider it for a moment. "On the subject of intimidating teammates…"

"I can counsel you on what you've seen, but I'm afraid until he can sit down and tell me what was going on at the time … that's all I can offer," Kurt said.

Tyler nodded and looked thoughtful. "I guess it just surprised me. I know what's out there about what he and K used to do, but it's one thing hearing it and another seeing it — and when he's in uniform…" He let out a breath. "That's not exactly what you picture your childhood hero getting up to when he fights the bad guys. Guess I should be old enough not to think that way, though."

Kurt let out a long breath. "No, there's nothing wrong with how you think," Kurt assured him. "There are times — more of them than I care to admit — where Logan has taken every one of us off-guard. And judging by the very short version that Kate told me ... I think last night would certainly have qualified." He shook his head gently. "But that side of him … it doesn't usually come out. He doesn't often do anything that brutal."

"I almost can't complain. I mean…. He wasn't the only one beating that guy down last night," Tyler said as he glanced down at his hands.

"Did he stop you before he started, or did he just dive in to help?" Kurt asked, trying to gauge both of their reactions more finely.

"Ah ... it was more seeing Rachel that stopped me," Tyler admitted. "And then when I stepped back, he stepped in. But he was also fighting back a mob before Rachel stepped in, so he probably couldn't have jumped in until then."

"It sounds like he didn't want you to go over the edge," Kurt said. "He has a long history of doing the worst of our work. So no one else has to get blood on their hands, so to speak."

Tyler glanced down at his own hands with a little breathy laugh. "Yeah, a little late for that."

"I don't mean the blood itself, Tyler," Kurt said. "He kills so no one else has to carry that. He doesn't _want_ anyone else to have to live with that."

"He didn't kill the guy, though," Tyler pointed out, then hedged the slightest bit. "And I… kinda wanted to."

"I doubt he would have let you," Kurt said.

"I think I had it under control enough to stop even without Rachel," Tyler said. "But…" He glanced over his shoulder and let out a sigh. "I just wonder if I should have. I don't know where the line is here."

"The simple fact that you're trying to find it tells me that you're doing well in that right. And with Logan nearby, he would _not_ let you do anything a step too far."

"Shouldn't someone do the same for him, then?" Tyler asked, his brow scrunched slightly.

"He's a bit harder to stop, for one," Kurt said, though he looked a bit saddened. "And he doesn't think it would make a difference at this point."

"Nobody's ever that far gone," Tyler said.

Kurt had to smile at that, nodding in agreement. "I've been telling him that very thing myself for years," Kurt said. "But he's a lot harder to convince than most. He doesn't believe in the good that he brings with him — and frankly, he's convinced that it's too late for him. So what's one more murder?"

"That… is not a good outlook to have," Tyler said with a frown. "And it's completely wrong."

"With the experiences he's had? He's not your typical hard head to convince. He's literally fought his way through Hell's army and beaten the devil himself — only to believe what he had to say to him. That is advanced levels of stubborn that I have no way to argue against."

"How about the fact that he beat the devil? Pretty sure you can only do that with God's grace," Tyler argued, shaking his head the more he thought about it. "Which doesn't happen if you're condemned, right?"

Kurt sounded weary as he nodded in agreement. "Yes, but the only one talking to him was the devil — who convinced him that he was fighting his way out only because he was the best at what he did," Kurt shook his head. "Which was not at all the way that little saying came to be, but he certainly twisted it nicely for Logan to stew on."

"That's what he does," Tyler said with a deeply settled frown.

Kurt tried to shake it off. "But … that is a project in and of itself." He tried to give Tyler a little smile. "I'm here for _you_ today."

Tyler couldn't help but smile back for a second. "One problem at a time, right?" he asked lightly.

"When the problems are so spectacularly hard to deal with, yes. One at a time."

"Right." Tyler took a deep breath. "Still, thanks. Having that perspective — for Rachel _and_ Logan — that's helpful. Really." He glanced over his shoulder again toward where Tammy was sound asleep. "Anyway, we're back now, and ... I fixed Tammy up. So we should be okay eventually. At least ... I hope so."

"I'm sure you will be," Kurt said as he looked past Tyler. "If she would like to talk, please let her know I'm here for her too."

"Yeah, I'll do that," Tyler promised quickly. "Kate gave her a card too — for her therapist. I didn't even know she had one. But yeah ... we have some good support. I think she'll be okay."

"Is there anything else on your mind? I'm sure that if you're still wondering about your level of control, it would be smart to at least ask Logan the next time you two go to meditate."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he asked me about it first. He's been pretty good about keeping an eye out," Tyler admitted with a little grin.

"He wants to see you succeed," Kurt said, matching his grin.

"Yeah, I'm pretty lucky," Tyler had to agree. "Not just with the mentor I've got — but my parents and this school and the team and… and Tammy." His grin turned a bit more nervous. "I'm really lucky to have her too."

"How is that going?"

"Really well!" Tyler said honestly, his gaze brightening. "Really. I… I talked to Hen- Dad about where to look for…" He trailed off and looked a little sheepish. "Well, I asked him a couple weeks ago where he bought Mom's ring," he said in a much softer whisper. "But with everything going on last night, maybe now isn't the right time."

"Don't let anything like this slow you down, or it will _never_ be the right time," Kurt advised.

"I'm kind of hoping nothing specifically like this happens again," Tyler pointed out. "I mean, I know there's always going to be risks, but … this guy was a creep. It's not quite like getting hurt in the field or something."

"No, it's different — but somehow more common, I think," Kurt said.

Tyler let out a bit of a breath and nodded. "I guess so. Though that really doesn't help me want to hit him again any less," he said, though this time with a bit of a smirk. "I guess I just want to wait until she's a little less shaken is all. And maybe until _I'm_ a little less shaken up."

"If it makes you feel any better, this is exactly the kind of thing that sets Logan off entirely, so we could chalk it up to part of your mutation," Kurt said with a smile. "But of course — in your own time. Don't rush into anything you're not sure of or ready for."

"No, no," Tyler said quickly. "No, it's not — I'm really sure about this. And I think I'm ready. Really. I just — it's just the timing. That's all."

"It seems trauma inspires action in our little group," Kurt said with a smile. "Kate proposed after she was nearly killed. Logan asked K half a dozen times a day, but she wouldn't agree until your father nearly killed her … it's a pattern I'd like to see broken. Ask her while she's whole."

"Oh, I've known since before she got snatched," Tyler tried to explain. "That's not — no, I just want to make sure she's _okay_ before she says anything. I don't want her to say yes because she's scared still, if that makes sense?"

"It does. But ask her anyhow. She can always change her mind," Kurt said.

"Yeah, okay." Tyler grinned ruefully and rubbed the back of his neck. "Thanks."

When the little discussion was over, Kurt headed away from the two young people and back to the kitchen, where the kids were playing. He glanced up at the clock and frowned. Time was marching on, and there was no sign of Logan yet.

Before he could put too much thought to it, though, Krissy and Elin came over to him with their arms outstretched for him to pick them up and play with them. "Play on the ceiling?" Krissy asked. "Help Elin?"

Kurt had to smile and pulled both girls up into a bit of a snuggle to tickle them both before he pushed his worry aside for the moment and played a few rounds of tag with the two little girls.

* * *

When Logan returned to the mansion, it was almost perfect timing; Remy had dinner finished and was just starting to serve it up. Logan stepped into the kitchen and reached in the fridge to grab a six pack before he picked up a couple bowls and gave Remy a nod. "I'll take this up to K. Thanks."

Remy nodded back. "You jus' make sure Miss K feel better soon. Little Miss Charlie been askin' 'bout her all day."

"I'll pass it on," Logan promised before he breezed through the dining room on his way to the stairs.

"Oh, hey, when did you get back?" Tony asked conversationally — on his way down the stairs to dinner.

"Just came in," Logan answered honestly. "Why?"

"Popped in on your little Mrs. a while ago and found Hank instead of you — what, you still had unfinished business after all that went down last night?"

"Yeah, I did. Just didn't know it 'til I got back. How are things up there?" Logan asked with a little frown.

"Far as I can tell, she's very dizzy — though that didn't stop her from telling me or Hank off when I dropped by for 'hovering'," Tony replied with an easy shrug.

Logan relaxed a bit and nodded as he let out a breath. "Good. I hate when she's gotta wake up with someone else."

"It's a regular problem, then?" Tony asked almost before he could stop himself.

"Not in any way that'd interest you," Logan muttered back.

"Shame," Tony said, looking every bit disappointed before he scooted along down the stairs a bit faster to get to dinner, and Logan just had to shake his head as he headed up to check in on his wife.


	11. Wet Cat

**Chapter 11: "Wet Cat"**

It had been dinnertime when Logan returned, though Kurt didn't realize it until Remy made a passing mention of sending up two bowls of food with Logan — not realizing that Logan had been gone for the better part of a day.

But when Kurt heard it, he quickly excused himself to teleport up to Logan's room, where he arrived with his arms crossed and his tail twitching the slightest bit as he looked over at his old friend. "You've been gone all day," he said as soon as the smoke had even halfway cleared.

"Yeah, I have," Logan replied as he got K to settle in against him — still groggy. "But I'm here now. What do you need?"

"Logan..." Kurt shook his head for a moment, clearly irritated. "I know what you went to do, and I understand it — but you have been gone for _hours_."

"I know. Time got away from me."

"There are other ways, Logan," Kurt said with a deep frown.

"Do you know how many girls this creep screwed with?" Logan asked. "Or how long it's been going on?"

"Then kill him and be done with it — and don't let him drag you any further down," Kurt replied, though he wasn't using as sharp of a tone as before.

"I can't really go much further," Logan half growled back. "Yeah. I mighta got carried away, but he deserved everything I did and more."

"And I'm sure he's suffering now on the other side — but Logan," Kurt sighed out a long breath. "I'm getting very tired of having this argument with you. I shouldn't have to remind you how much you are worth to all of us here — to me, to K, to _God_. But here I am again."

"I don't know what to tell you, Elf. Sometimes, what I am has to come out."

Kurt stared at Logan for a moment in silence before he shook his head and decided to try a different approach. "You should speak with Tyler at some point," he suggested. "He is still wrestling with what happened, and I can only counsel him on so much."

Logan let out a sigh and nodded his head. "Maybe tomorrow, I'm … I need to sleep."

"Would you like me to keep Elin and James again? I don't mind in the least," Kurt offered softly.

"Might be for the best," Logan admitted quietly.

"Just for tonight — to give you some peace and quiet," Kurt clarified. "They miss their father terribly, you know. I'm no _you_ , _mein Freund_."

Logan nodded and fell into that same old slump that Kurt was so familiar with seeing, though this time at least he had K trying to anchor him a little bit.

* * *

The next morning, K and Logan took a bit longer than usual to get moving, but they were still among the first downstairs — and Bobby hadn't yet gotten far enough on the coffee to have wrecked it when K bumped him out of the way and showed him _again_ how it was done.

She and Logan had gathered their mugs and were snuggled into the corner, though Logan still looked to be in a state of miserable that should have been behind him by now.

They weren't very far into their coffee before they could hear the ruckus that was all the kids coming down for breakfast as well, giggling and half shouting to each other as they played. Chance and Elin were first through the door, with clasped hands and giggles as they were whispering some kind of secret plan together before they spotted Logan and K.

Chance didn't even hesitate. "WOGAN!" he shouted as he took off at a run, Elin close behind him, though Chance was going for a takedown at the knees and Elin clearly just wanted to hug her Daddy. The other kids weren't far behind, either, giggling madly at having their favorite target back.

Logan had barely gotten his coffee mug set down before he scooped both of them up and took a knee to keep the wiggling from _actually_ throwing him off as the others caught up quickly.

Charlie and Krissy each had hold of one of his legs, and Sying had actually scaled up Logan to wrap his arms around him from behind with a little giggle. "Grampa Wolvie! Hi!" he said delightedly as he gave Logan a big, wet kiss.

"Okay, who put you guys up to this?" Logan asked, since clearly, someone had told them to be more gentle with K, who was already snuggled up with James as Kurt took the seat next to her.

"K sick yesterday," Charlie explained reasonably. "Dad always sad when Mommy sick, so you gotta need hugs too!"

"Flawless logic on this one," K said as she tipped back her mug. '

"We hug K when she's not sick," Krissy agreed. "And make pancakes!"

"She's fine today," Logan told her as she took her turn trying to squeeze him around the neck.

"Then why you still sad?" Charlie asked outright — with childlike bluntness.

"Maybe because I haven't had my coffee yet," Logan said with a look.

Krissy giggled as she looked over at the steaming coffee mug. "Ooh. Das important."

"Play after coffee?" Sying asked, still half clinging to Logan.

"We'll see, kiddo," he told him as he reached around to tickle him. "Gotta see what I have to get done today still."

"Gotta _play,_ " Sying insisted. "Peeeease."

"Maybe later, not right away," Logan said. "That's all I can do."

"Promise?" This time, Chance was the one looking up at him with wide eyes. "Play later?"

"We'll see how the day goes, but yeah. We'll play."

The kids were all delighted to hear that they'd get to play with him, which set off another round of giggling and hugs as they all wrapped him up as best they could.

When the kids all scattered for breakfast, Elin stayed with him and made sure to nuzzle in for the rest of coffee as the rest of the mansion slowly woke up.

The kids were eager to get back to their games and mobbed their way back out the door quickly afterward, passing Tyler and Tammy on their way as Charlie made a point to pause and hug both of them and inform them that "You can play too" before she followed the rest of the kids out to the living room.

The young couple made their way into the kitchen holding hands as Tammy waved the hand that wasn't in Tyler's to get both of them some toast and orange juice to start the morning. The food arrived at their seats just ahead of them, and both young people looked to be still half asleep as Tammy was leaning a bit on Tyler's shoulder, slowly waking up. After a little while, she also pulled the fridge open from her seat and grabbed a grapefruit for herself — and lifted some of Annie's muffins for Tyler.

"Hey, Shift — why don't you gimmie a refill while you're at it?" Logan said with a little smirk as he pushed his mug her way.

Tammy couldn't help but grin at the codename — she _loved_ it when people used it — as she waved a hand to pull the coffee pot over and do just that. "Express service," she said as she sent the mug back to him.

"Thanks, darlin'," Logan said with a little nod her way. "How you feelin' today?"

"I'm alright," she said, her hand in Tyler's a little tighter than before as she smiled at them both. "Just getting a slow start to the morning."

"Yeah, we both slept in," Tyler said with a little nod.

"You're not the only ones," K told him.

Tyler looked her way for a second and then to Logan. "I'm kind of bummed I missed meditation this morning, actually. Think I could probably use it."

"You askin' for company or you just wanna scam my spot?"

Tyler smirked. "Probably a little bit of both."

"Alright, I could use a minute myself," Logan agreed. "After we grab a bite."

Tyler grinned and nodded — the grin only widening when Tammy asked with a sweet little smirk and a twinkle in her eyes, "Need anything else from the Express Service?"

"Nah, if I asked for anything else, I'd owe ya one," Logan told her.

"I accept bribes," she teased lightly.

"Got nothin' bribe-worthy," he replied with a little smirk.

"Oh well." She shrugged up one shoulder and shot him a smirk right back before she returned to her toast and grapefruit — eating one-handed much more successfully than Tyler. When they were finished eating, Tammy stood up and gave Tyler a quick kiss on the cheek. "I have to do some catching up from missing class yesterday. Meet you later?"

"Yeah, I'll catch up," he promised, and she nodded and headed off to go find a quiet corner with her books.

As soon as K had finished her breakfast, Logan called it good enough and gave her a kiss before he handed Elin off to Kurt — since James had fallen asleep on K. "Ready to go fall asleep on the dock?" Logan asked Tyler.

"Just don't snore too loudly," he replied with a smirk.

"I ain't makin' any promises," Logan said as they headed down to the dock, where the water was perfectly still and a light fog was coming off of the water.

Both of them kicked off their shoes and made their way down the dock to sit at the end facing the water as the songbirds sang in the forest nearby. They slipped into their usual side by side meditation in silence, and it wasn't long before Logan had found what he was looking for and began to relax. When he had sat still for about as long as he could handle, he uncrossed his legs from the lotus position and let his feet hang over the dock as he laid back, figuring he'd let Tyler finish on his own time.

It wasn't long at all before Tyler peeked one eye open and, seeing Logan, let out a breath and uncrossed his legs as well, half watching Logan as he stretched out. "Thanks. I needed that."

"You an' me both," he muttered back, his eyes still closed. "So ... what got you in need? You did good."

"Just… trying to find where my line is, I guess," Tyler said as he leaned back on his arms for a bit. "I lost my temper — and I'm still trying to figure out if I went far _enough_."

"You went as far as you should have," Logan said easily. "For what you knew — and considering how serious you are about her — you did fine."

"That obvious?" Tyler asked with a little smirk.

Logan chuckled with a genuine smile. "Yeah. It's that obvious."

"Thanks, by the way," Tyler said. "For stepping in."

"Wasn't gonna let you go too far. You don't need that on you. Especially outta revenge."

"Nobody does," Tyler agreed. He paused and considered Logan for a moment. "You know ... I wanted to. I really did."

"I know," he said with a nod.

"I don't think I've ever _wanted_ somebody dead. I mean, with Weapon X, it just _happened_. But this guy…" Tyler frowned and let out all his breath.

"He won't bother you anymore," Logan said easily. "So you don't gotta think about it."

Tyler stopped and looked Logan's way for a minute. "Yeah, pretty hard to bother somebody with your tongue cut out," he said carefully.

There wasn't much of a pause before Logan drew in a deep breath. "He's dead, Ty."

"When?"

"Yesterday."

"Did you do it?"

Logan opened his eyes to look the young man over with a little frown. "Yeah. What difference does it make?"

"A whole lot of difference," Tyler said, matching his frown. "You don't have to do something like that. Not for me or for Tammy."

"Wasn't for you or Tammy," Logan said, shaking his head. "It was for all the other girls he screwed with. Did anyone give you the full run down of what that creep had a history of?"

Tyler almost laughed. "You really think anyone told me something like that the way I was feeling yesterday?"

"Thought they might come clean with you after the fact," Logan said. "I know they didn't tell you before." He pushed himself up to a sitting position. "I won't give you the laundry list. Just know he's been preying on teenage girls for years. Using them up and then dropping them."

Tyler frowned hard for a good long time and seemed to be staring off the dock for a while. "So let him rot in Hell. You don't have to join him."

Logan let out a little bark of a laugh. "That's already been decided, kid."

"Yeah, I don't think so. That's not what I was taught."

"Well I'm not talking theoretical here," Logan said.

"Yeah, I know, I heard the story." Tyler looked over at Logan. "Kinda thought you were a little less gullible than the story makes you out to be, though — so I thought I'd see for myself."

Logan looked at him for a second with an unreadable expression before he simply pushed Tyler off the pier. When Tyler resurfaced, Logan had his knees drawn up nearly to his chest. "Oops. I didn't realize I was out here to get guilt-tripped. It's a done deal. Over a hundred years of killing and backstabbing and God only knows what else. _Mountains_ of bodies, kid. It wasn't that damn long ago I was running _with_ your dad. I haven't got a chance. That's just the facts."

"See, I just can't believe that," Tyler said as he pulled himself back up on the dock. "Not the laundry list — the fact that you've given up. That's … you just _can't_. Not now."

"I'm not going to stop trying to do right by those that I can," Logan said. "Don't _worry_ about it. It isn't your problem."

"And the Purple Man wasn't your problem either," Tyler countered. "You can't tell me not to try to help when someone I care about is hurting. Doesn't matter the hurt."

"What the hell do you think you can do?" Logan asked, looking decidedly irritated.

"I don't _know_!" Tyler met his gaze for a second. "But I can damn well try."

"Better not let your mom hear you talkin' like that, kid."

Tyler glared at him for a second before he reached out with one hand and pushed Logan right back into the water.

But when Logan resurfaced, it wasn't laid back and shocked like Tyler had done. Instead, he all but threw himself half on the dock to grab Tyler's leg and pull him in too. "Little late in the year for swimming lessons, don'tcha think?"

Tyler shook the water out of his hair for a second and almost laughed. "I don't mind the cold — used to kayak on the border."

"I'll keep that in mind for whenever we pull together a half decent field trip," Logan replied as he started toward the shore.

"I've heard rumors about those. Hisako says you should never fall asleep during field trips," Tyler half chuckled.

"True story," Logan agreed. "Course, she's just a lil' bit nervous."

"Besides, I'm getting a little old for field trips," Tyler pointed out. "Not a student anymore — well, not at the school anyway."

"Right," Logan said, frowning a bit. "Not much of a chance to do that stuff on missions. Have to figure something out." He smirked widely. "Scott used to have a cabin way out in nowhere, Alaska."

"This was before he met Annie, I'm assuming."

"Oh yeah," Logan said with a nod. "Had a few parties out there with the team. He wanted to do a relaxing kinda … I dunno. Hair braiding party or something. Of course, I took off in the woods for a week and the girls turned it into a party."

"What? You actually got Cyclops actively trying to relax and you did _that_?" Tyler chuckled.

"I didn't say that," Logan said. "He wanted to build some unity in the team, and I thought it was boring, so I ran with a wolf pack for a few days."

Tyler laughed and shook his head. "Of course you did," he chuckled. "That's got to be much less boring than watching Scott try to relax."

"Well that was never going to happen," Logan pointed out. "Not then anyhow. Might as well go hunt and play with pups."

"Different now, I guess."

"Little bit."

"I didn't really see the old team," Tyler admitted. "So I can't exactly speak to it, but seems like the kids around here ... the place just has a good feeling to it with all the families around, you know?"

"Took years to build it up to that," Logan said. "Wasn't families before at all. Most of 'em were too young to consider it, and those that weren't … well. It wasn't a good idea."

"I think I like this team better, to be honest," Tyler said.

"You're good kids," he told him. "You _should_ like your team."

"Well, yeah. Junior and senior squad are pretty good." Tyler leaned back with a wide grin. "And to hear Chance tell it, the junior junior squad in a few years will be even better," he laughed.

"That kid is just like his father."

"I heard Kate telling K she was going to buy the twins red-tinted sunglasses for their next birthday," Tyler agreed, still laughing. "Chance wants a cowboy hat, though."

"That's because K has been teaching them how to ride."

"He's convinced he's going to grow up to be a real-life cowboy," Tyler said. "And having grown up with some of those? I bet he could do it too."

"Well … she could teach him how," Logan said. "One of the kids in the riding class got mouthy the other day, and she roped and hog-tied them. Less than six seconds."

"Can you imagine him doing that?" Tyler laughed out loud.

"He's already been trying to lasso a bale of hay."

"Those kids are going to be unstoppable as soon as they're old enough to join the team," Tyler said, still shaking his head and grinning wide.

"Good. If they're that good, I can retire."

"Just sit back and be Grampa Wolvie?" Tyler was grinning wide as he got a bit of water from his ears.

"Yeah. Go up to the cottage and just stay there." He tipped his head a bit. "Most of the time."

"Come down for holidays and important things like that?"

"Hell no. Come out to go fight ninjas from time to time."

"That's too bad. I was hoping you'd come down for things like when my kids…" Tyler trailed off as he seemed to realize what he was saying.

"Makin' plans already then, eh?" Logan said with a totally obvious smirk. "Better marry her first or Kurt'll never let you hear the end of it."

"That _is_ the plan," Tyler said with a bit of a look.

"Plans get screwed up."

"Well, yeah — but not the order. Not for us anyway," Tyler pointed out.

"Right. Well. For as protective of a drive you got for that girl, you might want to step on it."

"I am." Tyler looked a bit sheepish. "Really."

"Just do it already. It's not hard."

"Hey, like you said — plans get screwed up. And with all the crap that went down yesterday, now's not really a good time."

Logan let out a huff and swept Tyler's feet out from under him. "Do it."

"I _will_." Tyler looked up at him and shook his head. "And you said _Kurt_ was the pushy one."

"Kurt thinks he's subtle," Logan pointed out as he kept walking. "And I said he'd push if you did things outta order."

"And you just push me to do it," Tyler said as he picked himself back up.

"You got plans for kids. Quit screwin' around."

Tyler wiped some of the leaves off his jeans and sighed. "Soon as Tammy's feeling better, I swear. I just want to make sure she's alright first."

"You're just lucky you let that little tidbit slip to me instead of to Kurt. This is nothing as far as pushy goes. You saw how he was pushing K to get a date picked out. He was being nice to her, too."

"Hey, he'll probably be fine. Once we've got a temple picked out, engagements tend to be short," Tyler pointed out.

"Well, whatever. Don't drip all the way upstairs. You smell like a wet cat."

"You don't smell that much better," Tyler said without missing a beat.

"Yeah, but I don't smell like a wet cat."

Tyler looked like he was about to respond when a high-pitched little squeak of a growl sounded from around the corner — Krissy was standing with her hands on her hips in a very Kate-like pose. "You went swimnin _without me_!" she accused them both, sounding scandalized.

Logan let his shoulders drop, and he _looked_ genuinely down about it for a moment as she stalked toward them. "I knew I was forgetting something," he said, shaking his head slowly before he darted forward and swept her up in a very wet bear hug.

She giggled madly and tried to push him away. "You dripnin! You dripnin on my fuzzy!"

"I know; that was the idea," Logan told her before he gave her a little kiss on the top of her head. "You sounded mad that you didn't get wet, so …"

"I mad I din _swim_ ," she corrected him. "That's wet _and_ fun!"

Logan adjusted the way he was holding her so he could toss her over to Tyler. "Try playing with him. He's wet and smells like a cat. I don't know if he's any fun."

Krissy giggled as Tyler caught her just to dangle her upside down. "He's lotsa fun!" Krissy promised, trying to twist around to see Logan. "You gon play too? You said!"

"I'm gonna dry off," he told her. "You're too wet."

"Das _your fault_!" she said as Tyler just laughed.

"Not really, Tyler pushed me in the lake," Logan said as he headed into the house.

Tyler tried very hard to look properly ashamed of himself as Krissy twisted around to give him a stern talking to, sticking one purple finger in his face. "No pushnin people. Papa says das mean."

Tyler could hardly keep a straight face as he said, loud enough that he knew Logan could hear. "Your papa's completely right. Pushing people in the lake is very mean."

Krissy giggled at him, still hanging upside down. "You gotta play," she told Tyler. "But you gotta get dry first. You're all wet!"

"But you're all wet too," Tyler pointed out.

She looked down at herself as if she had only just now noticed this. "I very wet," she agreed. "We both need towels."

On cue, three little bamfs 'ported in with a big fluffy white towel to wrap around Krissy and a washcloth for Tyler. The bamf holding the washcloth giggled as he patted Tyler's nose dry and then handed it to him sheepishly.

Krissy giggled delightedly and reached out, still upside down, to hug the bamf with the washcloth. "Silly," she told him.

"Let me guess who sent you down," Tyler said dryly. "He was dripping wet too, right?"

The bamfs cackled delightedly and poofed away again, leaving Krissy with her towel and Tyler with his washcloth as Krissy very politely offered him her towel. "We can share," she said as they walked through the halls past a widely grinning Kate who was leaned leaned against her office door and _smirking_.

"Yeah, yeah, very funny," Tyler said, shaking his head.

"You're just… so tall it looks even smaller and it just…" Kate broke into more giggles, shaking her head as she tried to regain her composure. She handed him her phone so he could see the picture for reference. "Don't worry; I already posted it."

"How …"

"The bamfs told me what was going on," Kate said with a smirk.

"What did you do to get Wolverine picking on you?" Bobby asked.

"I might have shoved him in the lake," Tyler admitted, now resigned to the fact that half the team was aware of this ridiculousness. "He shoved me first, though."

"Like that's ever counted for anything," Bobby said with a laugh. "Good luck with the upcoming prank war. Whatever you do, don't pull anyone in to help you."

"So he gets the bamfs and I get.."

"Bamfs are fair game for anyone," Bobby said. "It's a bait. If you pick another _person,_ you can bet he'll pull K into it on his end."

"Good point." Tyler flipped Krissy back upright as she tried to help pat him dry with her fluffy towel, giggling madly the whole time. "Thanks for the advice."

Kate giggled at his resigned expression and patted him consolingly on the shoulder as she pulled Krissy into her arms. "Welcome to the team," she teased him.


	12. Logan and K Take Care of Their Kids

**Chapter 12: "Logan and K Take Care of Their Kids"**

A couple weeks into October, the leaves were turning brilliant colors, and the fall chill was hanging in the air — and that weekend, it wasn't storming like it had the previous weekend, so Tyler was going to seize the good weather while he had the chance and take Tammy on a picnic.

"Alright, I have everything you asked for and a few little surprises too," K said. "You both have comms on, right? Because you know damn well Scott is going to have kittens in the middle of the living room if you step outside without them."

"Are you making kitten jokes because Logan asked you to?" Tyler couldn't help but tease.

"No, that .." K shook her head with a little smile. "No. That was actually unintentional, Kitten Whiskers."

"Just checking," Tyler said, grinning her way as he finished packing the basket with her.

"Take the Jeep, please," K told him as she pressed the keys into his hand. "The spot I told you about might be muddy, and the Jeep can get through it."

"Thanks," Tyler said with a little nervous grin. "Glad I've got you around to think of things like that."

She popped up on her toes to give him a quick kiss on the cheek that he had to lean down for, but the effect was the same. "Go get 'er," she said with a little growl.

He grinned that much wider before he headed to the garage to put the basket and blanket in the Jeep and then headed back to find Tammy — who was, as usual, curled up in a corner with a book waiting for him.

She looked up when he came in the door and grinned as she stuck a bookmark in her place and hopped up to her feet. "Where are we going today?" she asked. "I'm starving!"

"I have a spot in mind," Tyler said with a little smirk he couldn't contain. "I'm pretty sure you've never been there, too."

She grinned. "We'll see. I was here before you, you know," she teased him as she grabbed him by the hand and had to pick herself up a few feet to give him a kiss. "And I didn't ever go far to go home for the summers — so I know the town. But you can try to surprise me if you want."

"Alright then; I think I'm up to the challenge," he teased before he led her out to the Jeep and held the door open for her.

"We're not taking your car?" she asked, a bit surprised as she climbed in. "Or is this part of your ongoing war with Logan — we bringing it back empty?"

"No, no. I have permission for this. I'm not going to touch his Jeep without asking first."

"That's why you get top grades," she teased him as she buckled in. "My genius boyfriend."

"That's not exactly genius material," Tyler pointed out. "More like self-preservation."

"Still a cut above half of the mansion," she countered with a little giggle as they got driving out to the spot K had told Tyler about. "To hear Logan tell it, nobody in the place has an ounce of _that_." She leaned back contentedly as they drove in the cool fall evening. "But you're still a genius."

He shook his head, and the two of them turned down a charming little two-track road that was covered with orange and yellow leaves as it wound through the woods. It went up and down little hills and around massive rocks and trees, rougher and rougher as they went deeper into the woods. The tree branches that were hanging over the trail scraped the sides and the roof of the jeep, but they kept going until the trail very suddenly opened up to reveal a massive lake lined with colored maple and oak trees, brightly glowing in full color and reflected perfectly on the mirror like water.

"So. I thought we might have a little picnic," Tyler said, his eyes on the water as he killed the engine.

Tammy stared out at the gorgeous lakeside view for a moment before she let out a delighted sort of giggle. "Okay, I admit it — you surprised me," she said. "Where did you _find_ this place?"

"It's actually … one of K's spots that she found. I don't know. Logan may have shown her," Tyler said.

"Well, I love it," she said as Tyler came around to open her door for her. "It looks like something out of a picture. I bet Spidey would love this place."

"I'm sure he would," Tyler said with a little grin.

She matched his grin and slipped her arm through his as they walked along until they reached a good spot to set out the blanket and food — and Tammy laid out the little blanket perfectly across the grass and leaves on the first try just to show off a little before they pulled out some chips and sandwiches, along with the lemonade and apple crisp K had packed.

"I'm glad the weather held out," Tammy said, breaking the silence as they laid out on the picnic blanket, enjoying the scenery and the company.

"It's pretty perfect," Tyler had to agree.

"And the kids would tease you about being a wet cat if it rained on us," she said with a little teasing smile.

"Well, they'll do that anyhow," Tyler said as he stretched out on the blanket to nibble and watch the water. "I should have never pushed him in."

" _I_ think it was funny," she said, grinning.

"Well, he'd gotten me first," Tyler said. "But I'm not sorry about that."

"You really did look so pitiful with just the washcloth and Krissy," she couldn't help but giggle. "I'm sorry, but you did."

"I did," he agreed, nodding and smiling. "I know. I saw. And I'll never live it down."

She laughed and raised herself up on her elbows. "Aww, cheer up, kitty cat," she teased him. "At least you didn't get a new nickname out of it like our friend the Chicken Hawk."

"Hey, I am happy with my codename — I'm not going to push for anything else."

"I like it too," she agreed. "And I like mine. So we're pretty much set." She settled back down with her hands behind her head as she watched the water on the lake for a while. "Lifeguard Shift. You know that's what I heard Leslie Ann and Jana calling us the other day, and it made me _laugh_."

"They're hilarious. Or at least they think they are," he said. "Going through all the same worries we were too — half afraid the teachers don't like them in class. Especially Jana."

"Well, she's still hung up on her first semester here and all that drama," Tammy pointed out. "But you know Scott's practically adopted her."

"She nearly squeaked when Logan tried to ask her something the other weekend," Tyler said. "I thought she was getting over it."

"Well, you remember how it is when you're fourteen." She grinned. "Or did you skip that awkward phase?"

"I thought it was more because she was still blaming herself for what happened," Tyler said.

"Well, that too." Tammy shrugged and let out a sigh. "But there's a lot of that around here. I think it might be part of the X-gene," she joked lightly.

"Very likely," he replied. They continued to try and engage in small talk and nibble at their meal, but it wasn't until she was almost done with her apple crisp that Tyler actually decided it was time to get with it.

"Are you sure you got everything out of the basket?" Tyler asked.

She raised an eyebrow as she looked him over before she reached out a hand to open the basket — where she found a box that looked to be about the size of her palm. "Open it up."

She grinned at him and opened up the little box, her eyes widening when she saw the little ring sizing tool inside.

"I was thinking I should start up the whole process of getting you a ring, but I don't want to screw it up," Tyler said. "So … maybe you can tell me which one fits best?"

She had gone completely wide-eyed, her mouth half open in a little grin as she wordlessly nodded, stunned into silence as she looked through the different rings until she had to blush a little and look up at him. "Oh. Um. I don't think it's got my size."

Tyler frowned just a bit. "Oh," he said with a very put out expression growing as he dug into his pocket to produce a little blue box. "Maybe you can try this one instead?"

She had one hand over her mouth as she was now realizing what he was up to. She very gently reached out for the box to take it from him, not quite trusting herself to use her powers to take it for fear she might drop it the way she was half shaking trying not to burst out with a "yes" before he could finish the speech he had very obviously prepared.

"John 15 verse 13. 'Greater love has no one than this: that a man would lay down his life for his friend.' You're my best friend. If you'll let me, I promise to lay down my life for you every day, for the rest of my life. I love you. Would you do me the honor of marrying me?"

The moment she removed her hand from other her mouth, the little "yes!" slipped out, almost like the sound was hiding behind her fingers. She flung her arms around his neck and kissed him and then burst into light laughter. "Yes, please!"

* * *

The kids had settled in for a nap, and K had just slipped into her chair with a cup of coffee, her legs pulled up under her as she prepared for a bit of quiet for a change. Logan and Scott were in the Danger Room doing whatever they needed to do. Kate was working in her office.… It was nice. Quiet.

"K, have you seen Tyler or Tammy this evening?" Kurt asked as he poked his head into the room.

She looked up, wide-eyed for a moment, and cleared her throat for a second before answering him. "What did you need them for?"

"I was just hoping to check in," Kurt said. "It's only been two weeks, and I know Tyler had… I'm just looking for them."

She looked over her shoulder out the window before she turned back to him and raised the mug to her lips again. "Oh, they'll be back soon enough."

"Oh, so they went out together." Kurt just nodded. " _Danke_. I'll catch them when they return."

She smiled up at him and nodded her head. " _Bitte._ "

And that would have been that — had it not been for Peter Parker coming bounding up the stairs with his camera in hand. "That was _beautiful!_ " he declared as he pushed through the door and picked her up, spinning her around in a hug.

"Peter, _shhhush_ ," K said with an almost severe look as they twirled around.

"Where did you _find_ that spot?" Peter continued, unheeding. He set her down and pulled the camera off of his neck to set it down on the stand nearby. "It's so _perfect_."

"I have dozens of them, Pete — whenever you're ready."

"Oh, no, not me, thanks — but it was perfect for those two. I mean, I have never seen something so… _adorable_ and _innocent_ and…!" He laughed and picked her up again in a spin.

She couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm and finally hugged him back. "It's all good then, yeah?"

"Oh yeah — got the whole thing on camera. Once he finally worked up to it." He grinned as he handed her the camera to see some of the pictures he'd taken as the pieces finally fell into place for Kurt.

"Worked up to _what_ , exactly, Peter?" he asked.

K glanced up at him and pulled a little face as she took a few steps further away from Kurt to look at the photos, though Kurt teleported behind her to look over her shoulder all the same.

She pulled the camera view screen to her chest and gave him a look. "That is so rude."

"How is it that _you_ knew this was happening and I didn't?" he asked, looking completely betrayed as he plucked the camera and teleported away to look through the frankly adorable pictures of the two young blondes on the junior team — though the look of betrayal couldn't quite stand up when he was half grinning over every shot.

"It's .. it's _not_ like you're trying to make it out," K said, trying to appease him. "He just asked me to help him with the food. That's all."

"You seem to have done far more than the food," he said as he looked through some of the pictures — he could see the Jeep, and the setting.

"He needed a little privacy," K said with one shoulder shrugged up to her ear. "And … he asked if I knew of anywhere that was pretty."

Kurt stared at her openly for a moment as Peter swiveled back and forth between them like he was watching a tennis match. "Sooo," Peter said at last. "They're probably on their way back, if you want the story from them."

"Yes, that exactly," K said. "So they can tell you themselves I had nothing to do with it."

Kurt raised an eyebrow her way, shook his head, and returned the camera to Peter. "I'll head downstairs, then," he said, though he didn't stop giving K a _look_.

"Kurt," K said with a little breathy laugh she couldn't help. "I didn't do anything to get that look."

He softened it a little bit and had to chuckle. "No. I'm just a bit jealous," he had to admit.

"Why? You know they're going to want you involved in the actual wedding. Come on. They probably won't even remember who pointed them at the lake. Who remembers that kind of thing?"

He laughed. "It's the details that matter sometimes," he said. "I seem to remember someone telling Kate to give me a piece of paper at some point before she proposed."

"She was being ridiculous."

"Yes. And thank you for clearing her head," he said, grinning widely at her. "For someone who hates weddings, you see to be at the root of many of them."

"Hold on, detail boy," K said taking a few steps his way with one finger pointed at him. "I never said I didn't like weddings."

"Oh no?" He chuckled. "You certainly said that before you were married."

"Yes. Because I didn't want to get married at all. I don't have an issue with anyone else getting married."

He chuckled and shook his head. "It's just _interessant_ , that's all," he said with a smirk.

"How so, sneaky Elf?" She crossed her arms and watched him carefully.

He laughed again and shrugged. "It's just always interesting to see a friend come full circle," he teased.

"You are reading _far_ too much into this," K said.

He grinned widely. "Well, you did tell me to stop giving you that look," he pointed out as the grin turned _very_ impish.

"Don't give me that one either, mister. That just reads all kinds of _more trouble_ for me."

"Oh, I wouldn't do that to you," he said with a smirk.

"No, just set _him_ on the path, seeing as the two of you share a brain half the time."

"And according to you, he shares it with Scott the other half," Kurt said without missing a beat.

"Which is _why,_ " K said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "I didn't want to get married."

"Then it's a good thing someone talked you into it anyway. You seem to enjoy it."

"I'd have kept him anyhow."

"Yes, but he's so much happier this way," Kurt said with a widening grin.

"Coulda fooled me," she said before she got a little closer and pinched him.

He yelped and jumped back. "There's no need to pinch me just because I'm right."

"You're not right," she argued. "But go make over the happy couple — just act like you know nothing, okay?"

He drew himself up with an impish laugh. "I _am_ the drama teacher," he said.

"Yeah? Ask Ty how he popped the question, drama queen. He had it all set as an _act_."

"I've never been prouder," he chuckled before he grinned her way and vanished in a poof of blue smoke.

He reappeared downstairs and, thankfully for him, didn't have to wait too long before Tyler and Tammy drove back up the long driveway — and it was all he could do not to teleport into the garage to greet them.

But he waited until they came into the kitchen, all smiles and holding hands as usual as they brought in the basket to put away some of their picnic supplies — both of them breaking into wide grins when they saw Kurt trying very hard to look like he was nursing a mug of coffee.

He didn't have to wait long at all, though, because the two starry-eyed kids were bursting with their news — and it was lucky for him they were both walking on air and not noticing his horrible acting job as Tammy bounced over to him with a wide grin. "Guess what!" she announced, not even waiting for him to guess as she held up her left hand to show off the ring as Tyler _beamed_ behind her.

Kurt broke into a wide smile in less than a second flat as he gently took Tammy's hand to look over the simple but elegant ring. "That's _wunderbar_ ," he said warmly as he couldn't help but wrap them both in a hug, still grinning wide. "Tell me everything!"

* * *

The weekend before Halloween was the big wedding bash for Kamala and Miles, and while Kamala and her family had asked for a quiet ceremony, the reception and after-party… well, Miles _had_ asked Peter to help, and he _might_ have gone a little nuts inviting every hero available.

Still, when the day itself came, they were both glad that the Khan family had the foresight to have a very quiet _shaadi_ and contract ceremony. It was just their families and closest friends — though that didn't make it any less of a party and celebration as the two youngest Avengers _finally_ made it official.

But it was when they got to the park where the reception was being held that it was clear the party was really getting rolling. Someone (Peter) had asked Tony for suggestions on setup, and as a result, the whole place looked like a _gala_. The deep reds and glittering lights gave the whole thing even more of a fall feeling than the park itself, and the food — all of it _halal_ — seemed to be endless.

Not to mention every single hero was there that could be there, since they _were_ Avengers, and the X-Men all had a special sort of soft spot for Kamala with how often she was at the mansion — not only for Kate but also to play with the kids, who dubbed her their favorite babysitter five seconds after meeting her.

So it took maybe three seconds after the happy couple arrived for them to get swept up into hugs and congratulations from Captain America to Charlie Summers and everyone in between.

And of course, Peter was never far behind either of them, camera clicking madly as he captured every second of adorable blushing happiness between the two of them, grinning like mad — especially when Kamala and Miles met up with Tyler and Tammy and Peter just about died over all the adorable innocent sweetness in one place as the four young people chatted for a while.

Of course, with Kamala's prestige as an internationally known writer — and with the huge cult following her books and movies had, not to mention the press that always followed the Avengers — Peter wasn't the only one taking pictures. Tony could see that neither Kamala nor Miles quite knew what to do about the fact that there were tabloid fodder with other photographers trying to get in on pictures from the wedding.

As he watched, he saw Miles half pulling Kamala around some decorations in what was a clear attempt to get the hanging lanterns in between the two of them and the camera lenses, and he decided to step in to give the kid a break.

"I'm betting your parents would rather this whole thing didn't make it into the magazines, right?" Tony asked over Kamala's shoulder as he made his way over with an easy grin.

"Yeah… it took them forever to get used to me being an Avenger. This whole thing is still…" Kamala waved her hand as she clearly didn't have the words to properly articulate what it was.

Tony leaned over with a spark of trouble in his gaze. "Well, just say the word when you want to slip off, and I'll make sure they've got something new to chase after," he told them in a conspiratory whisper and with a wink that had both of them sharing a puzzled expression before he melted back into the party.

They shrugged at each other and went back to the guests, as just about everyone came over to offer their congratulations. Clint and Natasha, beaming with pride as Clint gushed over how he was glad they were finally tying the knot. Kurt and Kate, looking stunning as usual and teasing the two of them over the red carpet proposal. Billy and Teddy, who wrapped them both up in such warm hugs that both Kamala and Miles' feet left the ground. Thor, who picked them both up at once and looked so _proud_. Scott and Annie, who brought with them pictures that the kids at the mansion had drawn of the two of them — since Logan and K had stayed home with them to keep both themselves and the little ones out of the spotlight.

They were finally starting to wear down when Tony came back around to them, this time with Pepper on his arm. He gave Miles a significant wink — and when Miles just blinked at him, Tony said, "You'll know when to slip off. Have fun, kids."

The four of them drifted toward the outskirts of the party as Pepper politely asked Kamala about her books and her movies, and Kamala, of course, was only too delighted to talk about her passions. But it was when there was a lull in the conversation that Tony struck.

"You know Miles, one married man to another, I gotta give you some advice," Tony said in such a casual tone that it almost didn't click for either of the two young Avengers what he'd said.

But he breezed past their stunned silence as he put a hand on Miles' shoulder. "Make sure you treat her right. Lucky for you, you figured out young that when you find the right one, you act on it. Wish I'd done it sooner," he said, and both Kamala and Miles were amazed at how calmly he was bursting out with news when they could _see_ the camera flashes and hear the whispered mutterings of a few reporters practically salivating over Tony's "accidental" slip.

"Y-Yeah," Miles managed to nod. "I'm pretty lucky."

"And don't you forget it," Tony said with a nod and a twinkle in his eye — and when he and Pepper headed off, so did the attention of the cameras, leaving Kamala and Miles much less in the spotlight and far more comfortable, than before.

Kamala took hold of Miles' arm as soon as Tony was gone. "Did you know—"

"No," Mile shook his head quickly.

"Did _anybody_ know?"

"I think Pepper probably knew," Miles quipped before he could stop it, and she rolled her eyes at him so hard that he couldn't help but grin.

"So ... how do we slip out? Did Kate tell you what the plan is? A limo or something?" Kamala asked after a moment. "She said she'd handle it, but…"

Almost on cue, a blue puff of smoke appeared beside the two of them as Kurt stepped forward, wearing an impish grin. "Whenever you're ready, I can take you away from all the lights and the attention," he said with a little bow.

Kamala and Miles glanced at each other, and Miles broke out into a little grin. "Should've known that's what Kate meant when she said she'd handle it," he said, shaking his head as Kamala held out her hand for Kurt to take.

"Where are we going?" she asked, and Kurt simply grinned widely as he put a hand on Miles' shoulder. A moment later, the three of them had arrived just outside the _cutest_ cottage Kamala had ever seen.

"A wedding present from the Howletts," Kurt told them both as he swept an arm over the stunning view while the two newlyweds simply blinked and couldn't quite form words just yet. "The place is yours for the next two weeks."

Little disbelieving smiles broke out on both of their faces before Kamala threw her arms around Kurt's neck in a hug. "Pass that on to them for me, will you?" she asked with a beaming smile. "This is _so_ sweet!"

"Why don't you two look around?" Kurt suggested with a grin after he returned the hug and gently pushed Kamala back toward Miles. "I'll come back for you in a couple weeks — just call when you're ready to go," he added before he disappeared once more to leave the two of them to explore the gorgeous little cottage.

The two of them glanced at each other and broke into identical smiles as they seized the chance to explore the area and soak in the secret that K and Logan didn't share with many people at _all._ The newlyweds walked hand-in-hand through the dim woods as the first of the stars twinkled in reflections on the lake. Reds and oranges more naturally vibrant than their wedding decorations burst from the trees, and the only sounds were their footsteps crunching on the leaves and the natural forest noises around them… though that had both of them a little nervous. They weren't exactly avid campers.

"Maybe… inside?" Miles offered at last when the light was really starting to dim. "Or… I thought I saw a fire pit on the deck?"

Kamala nodded and squeezed his hand in return, beaming at him. "Okay, sounds good," she agreed as they headed inside, half keeping an eye on anything that moved in the trees, since they didn't exactly know where they were.

Once they got inside, they were back to all smiles, though, as they went through the little cottage, taking in the fireplace, the rooms, the pictures. There was even a framed little finger painting on the wall leading up the stairs that Kamala and Miles knew from the stories had to be the one Chance had given Elin for her first Christmas.

After they'd looked around for a while and felt properly awed by how nice this place was, they headed down to the kitchen. As much food as there had been at the reception, they hadn't really had the chance to eat anything — because they'd spent the whole time talking with people, and they were just starting to come down from their high enough to realize that they needed food. They were surprised to find the cupboards and fridge packed full — and there was a note on the table that Miles tore open and grinned as Kamala looked over his shoulder to read it too.

 _Kids -_

 _Sorry we missed the wedding. The place is stocked with anything you'll need. Don't worry about the wildlife. They'll stay back. Treat it like it's yours & Congratulations. _

_\- Logan & K_

"They are both getting the stuffing hugged out of them when we get back," Kamala said with a grin as she started pulling out supplies to bring outside to the firepit.

It took Miles a few tries to get a fire going, though. This wasn't exactly something he'd learned how to do — he wasn't a boy scout or anything. But finally, _finally_ , he managed to get a little bit of a fire started, and then Kamala walked out and tended to it like she knew exactly what she was doing until it was roaring, though when he looked at her sideways, she blushed.

"I… saw it on one of those survival shows?" She blushed again. "It was playing in the airport when we were going to go get Ami and everyone."

"Hey, I'm not complaining," he promised as the two of them pulled out some roasting sticks and got to work on getting some marshmallows perfectly browned on the edges. Sure, they should probably have eaten _dinner_ , but since neither of them really knew how long they could keep the fire going considering their huge lack of experience, the s'mores were a priority.

They were just starting to relax and enjoy the view from the deck when the first wolf started to howl, and both of them sat bolt upright at the noise, eyes wide…

"What was that?" Kamala asked Miles' way before it happened again, and a few other wolves joined in.

"Okay, okay, okay," Miles said, shaking his head and trying to look far calmer than the dropped marshmallow in the fire gave him away to be. "Okay — uh — inside?"

"Yes. Yes, inside, definitely," Kamala said, nodding, still with wide eyes as Miles looked around for something to snuff out the fire. By the time they got the fire out and Kamala had gathered everything up so they didn't attract even _more_ wildlife by leaving their food outside, Miles had spotted the source of the howling. Or, at least, one of the offenders.

"Holy crap," he muttered to himself on seeing the _huge_ white wolf, practically glowing, stalking its way through the trees beyond the cabin.

He turned on his heel and grabbed Kamala by the elbow as he led her inside while muttering, "Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope," all the way inside. "We are staying _in_."

Kamala nodded, similarly wide-eyed as the two of them got inside. Miles checked all the doors and windows to be sure they were locked while Kamala put everything back away, and then they just…

"Okay. Two weeks of hiding from wolves. Totally doable," Miles muttered, but Kamala was starting to see the humor in the situation and started to giggle.

"It's like they wanted to trap us in one spot," she pointed out, at which point Miles turned very pink, and she started laughing all over again.

"Yeah. Yeah ... I guess staying inside is okay too," he said, nodding several times over, and Kamala simply grinned and popped up on her toes to give her brand-new husband a long kiss.


	13. A Very Star Wars Birthday

**Chapter 13: "A Very Star Wars Birthday"**

When Halloween came around, literally no one in the mansion was more excited about it than Sying, because it was his birthday. And it wasn't just that he was excited for all the costumes or the cake and the sweets or the birthday itself — he was excited because his dad had promised that once he turned two, he and the other kids could start learning how to _fly his spaceship_.

Which was _so cool_.

Sying woke up ridiculously early on his birthday and all but pounced on Noh and Jubilee to wake them up and start trying to drag them out of bed to start the day, practically bouncing in place as he waited for them to get dressed so they could _go_.

He wasn't _quite_ patient enough to wait all the way up until they were ready, though, and he ended up headed out the door long before them. He ran down the hallway to knock on the Wagners' door so he could get Krissy, because his dad had promised to start lessons first thing after breakfast and Sying just _couldn't wait_.

Kurt was the one to answer the door, and when he saw the grinning and excited little boy at the door, he just had to grin and crouch down to be at eye level with him. "What has you so happy today, Sying?" he asked with a teasing grin.

"My birth-day!" Sying announced happily, still practically bouncing in place. "Can Krissy come play?"

"Krissy isn't awake yet, but I'll send her down as soon as she is," Kurt assured him as Sying tried to peek around him, and he could see that, yes, Krissy and Kari were both sound asleep — and so was Kate, zonked out in a rocking chair in the girls' room as she had woken up in the middle of the night to feed Kari and stayed there.

"Okay," Sying said, though he sounded a bit disappointed. "See you soon?"

Kurt nodded and wrapped him up in a little bit of a hug before he ruffled Sying's shock-white hair. "Happy birthday, Sying."

"Thank you!" Sying beamed up at him and then hurried away to go see if any of his other friends were awake, though he didn't have any luck with the Summers, and the Howletts were already downstairs, so he just ended up meeting back up with his parents to head down to breakfast with them alone. Still, that wasn't curbing his enthusiasm in the least as he babbled all the way downstairs in both Kree and English about how exciting it was to get to learn to fly.

K had only just finished making the coffee — it was that early — when the little family came down to the kitchen and Sying went running right up to her. "Grammy K! Grammy K! Guess what!" he said, tugging on her pants leg and beaming with pride.

"What's got you so excited, little one?" K asked as she picked him up and tossed him in the air, then wrapped him up in a bear hug. "Did you beat your dad in wrestling already?"

He giggled and shook his head. "Not yet!" he told her brightly. "But Grammy K — I _two years old_! I gonna fly the _Marvel_!"

"Awesome," she said as she set him back down. "I'm going to guess your mom said you have to eat something first, right? What would you like?" K asked — knowing full well what the answer was.

"Pancakes!" he said happily. "Pleeease! Grammy K pancakes are the _bestest ever_!" He was brimming with excited energy as he squirmed in her arms, bouncing with happiness.

"Alright, I'm on it. Go tackle your Grampa, would you? He's not all the way awake yet."

Sying nodded and tried to look solemn about his new duty but completely failed as soon as K set him down. He went bounding over to where Logan was to climb up and try and tackle him in a hug. "Grampa Wolvie! Wake up!" he half-shouted as Jubilee tried to hide her giggles unsuccessfully behind her hand and didn't even pretend to make an attempt to stop him. "It my birth-day!"

"No it's not," Logan replied as he pulled Sying into a hug and held him there.

"Yes it is!" Sying insisted. "I _two years old_!"

"That's almost as old as your mom," Logan teased. "About time for you to get a job."

Sying giggled and wrinkled his nose at Logan — even as Jubilee was making a face at him too. "I not _that_ old. But I learnin to fly!" he said, bouncing slightly.

"So why are you wakin' _me_ up?" he asked with a little growl. "Shouldn't you be wakin' your dad up?"

"Grammy K told me to," Sying giggled in what he probably thought was a whisper — which, to be fair, was much quieter than the other kids' 'whispers' because he was so sensitive to volume. He giggled and looked over at Noh as his dad was pouring some coffee. "I waked him up," he promised Logan.

"Yes, we got an early morning wake up call," Noh agreed as he took a long sip of coffee and wrapped an arm around Jubilee's shoulders as she leaned into him and looked ready to go right back to sleep.

"So is that the big plan for the day, then?" Logan asked. "Let the kids super charge your ship?"

"I've already got the console set so that it's in training mode. Whatever they touch will not _actually_ do anything to the ship that could damage it," Noh promised.

"Yeah, but the energy comin' off of this one is somethin' else." Logan gave Sying a little squeeze as the little guy tried to hop down.

Noh grinned at the little boy in Logan's arms. "Well, consider the source," he teased as he kissed the top of his still sleepy wife's head.

Sying twisted around a bit to look up at Logan better. "Can Elin play?" he asked openly. "She can fly too!" He thought about it for a minute and then added, "James can fly when _he_ two. Right?" He glanced over at Noh, who was nodding with a little smile.

"That's the rule your mother set — you have to be two to fly," he said in a tone that clearly told the other adults in the room he'd said it a hundred times. He finished his coffee and gently pulled Sying out of Logan's lap to get the excited little boy to eat something before they started the day, though that was hard work in and of itself, since Sying was too excited to wait.

Finally, Noh gave up and set Sying down, and the little boy rushed to where Elin was to all but bounce in place. "You coming?" he asked excitedly even as Noh was trying to pull him out of her way while she was clearly still eating.

"We'll have Mom send everyone down when they have eaten, alright?" Noh told Sying, and the little boy seemed to consider it for a while before he nodded and tried to pull his dad along that much faster.

Once they got down to the hangar, Noh's ship seemed to come alive as soon as the two of them stepped inside, obviously feeding off of Sying's excitement as the usual low hum became even more audible than usual.

Sying bounded right over to the controls of the ship and started to giggle _delightedly_ as Noh started to explain the basics of the controls — starting with how to get the ship off the ground in the first place. By the time Elin came down to join them, Sying was already giggling and trying to follow his dad's instructions, though Noh kept muttering at the console in Kree under his breath when the ship seemed to be trying to help Sying by making the correct buttons more visible and hiding the incorrect ones.

"Let him _learn_ ," Noh muttered at the ship before he turned to sweep Elin up in a hug while Sying was doing his thing. "Hello, little sister — did you have a good breakfast?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a hug before she kissed his cheek and let out a breath. " _Yes,"_ Elin said, though she took him a bit off-guard when her answer was in Kree rather than English. "Birthday for Sying day."

" _Yes,"_ he agreed, in Kree, as he rubbed her nose with his, positively tickled as the ship hummed delightedly underneath their feet. "Yes it is. You've been practicing, little sister."

" _Yes,_ " she replied, keeping to her own little rule of staying in his language while it was just them. " _Love you._ "

He beamed at her and kissed her forehead. " _And I love you,_ " he said before he set her back down and called out for Sying, who scooted over to make room for Elin to up Sying in a hug and a kiss as Noh made a point to go through everything for Elin, too — especially since the console changed slightly for each kid at the controls.

It wasn't long before the rest of the older kids came down to the hangar to take their turn — the Summers twins and Krissy all in one group of giggling excitement and even little Gerry a little later on as Natasha and Clint came by for the Halloween celebrations. Each of them got a turn at the console, each with their own slightly different arrangements so that the controls were intuitive to each of them.

The kids had a blast, and it was clear the _Marvel_ was brimming with energy as Noh could _feel_ his ship's excitement every time he leaned against the wall to watch the kids. Though he couldn't quite stop the little laugh when the Summers twins got into a bit of a fight. Chance had taken to flying like he was born to it, but Charlie…

"I _got_ it!" Charlie insisted for the third time as Chance tried to correct her on what she was supposed to do.

"Das not the button," Chance insisted, trying to show her the right one, but Charlie swatted his hand away.

"I _got_ it!"

Noh chuckled and stepped between them to gently redirect Charlie. "You're very close," he told her. "But that one is for the comms. This one is to inspire the engines," he explained patiently.

Charlie let out a little huff and crossed her arms, looking downright annoyed at being corrected, though Gerry tried to console her.

"It's okay. I messed up a _lot_ when it was my turn," he said, patting her arm. "You just gotta practice lots. That's what my dad says!"

Charlie screwed up her face and looked very annoyed, but she started over her turn at the console and this time did press the right button, though she didn't get much else right, to Chance's annoyance. But Elin was half trying to pull him back from Charlie to keep him from trying to do it _for_ her, so at least there was that.

Still, by the time Noh headed upstairs with the kids, they were all in good moods — even Charlie, who had to admit that even if it was hard, flying a spaceship _was_ fun. Chance was all but strutting as he ran to go tell his dad about how well the lessons had gone — "Noh says I am a _natural_!" — and Sying was beaming over how well the day had already gone. And they hadn't even gotten to the costumes and candy yet.

With the kids all excited and worked up over their flying lessons, it was a bit of a relief to Noh when the adults and students started to come out in costumes for the annual Halloween party and spoil Sying in particular for his birthday but all of the kids in general as well. Everyone in the junior squad made it a point to compliment Sying on his Darth Vader costume, and of course, Sying just _loved_ the fact that Tammy and Tyler had dressed up in Hogwarts robes — both of them in Hufflepuff — because "You match!"

Gerry had dressed up in his X-Men costume for the second year in a row, though this time Jess had helped him customize it so that he had little Red Cross patches, which Gerry explained were because he was a doctor like Tyler. Jess had dressed up as a nurse to go with Gerry's costume, and he could be heard giggling madly as he repeated phrases he had likely heard from doctor tv shows that he had no context for as Jess dutifully handed him his plastic stethoscope and other things.

Clint had clearly been the one to choose his family's costumes this year as he was playing off of Zoe's very curly red hair and had her in a full Merida getup — and himself and Nat as the king and queen. Though it was clear to anyone that knew Natasha she was fully enjoying herself as she watched little Zoe toddling around with her tiny toy bow.

As for the Summers clan, they were the Munsters, and Chance was hamming it up, still on a high from being told he was a natural at flying. But while Chance was clearly the star of the Munsters clanm it was the Wagners as the Addams family (clearly, Kate and Annie had conspired this year) that really stole the show — especially since Kurt was taking every opportunity to kiss the daylights out of Kate every time she spoke in German. So there was a lot of German being spoken.

Chance beamed when he saw Krissy with her hair in braids doing her best Wednesday Addams, and it wasn't long at _all_ before the two of them were off, totally entertaining the entire group of partygoers as the two kids tried to look "scary" — which Krissy pulled off a little better now that her teeth had grown in. Though about three minutes after they headed off together, they were skipping along and singing the Addams Family song at the top of their lungs together, or at least the part with the snapping, which neither could do. But it was adorable all the same, and Peter was just grinning ear to ear as he captured their sing-a-long.

The little group of ferals came in a hair late — though it took some time for Peter to figure out if Logan was in costume or if he was the reason they were late. K had reprised her Viking costume, and the kids were both looking the part of tiny warriors — while Logan was tied with his hands in front of him and being pulled along by the little group.

"So _this_ is how you get him to come to these things," Peter said, unable to stop from laughing as he was sure to get a few pictures of the whole group.

"We're Vikings," Elin told him with a bright smile. "We caught him."

"You sure did, sweetie," Peter agreed as he crouched down and booped her nose. "Was he hard to catch?"

"No," she said as she leaned closer to him. "But he was hard to tie up."

Peter couldn't handle that and burst into laughter, completely unable to stop — especially when Elin looked so _proud_. And he started to gasp when Sying rushed over, looked over the little group, and asked brightly, "Are you bad guys like me?"

"No, we're _Vikings_ ," Elin told him. "Cept Daddy."

"Is _he_ a bad guy?" Sying asked, looking over the 'captured' Wolverine as Peter held his stomach and quietly lost it in the corner on the floor.

"No, he's what we captured," she said with a nod. "We're gonna keep him."

Sying grinned and nodded enthusiastically. "Can I play?"

She nodded, and Logan shot Peter a look as the kids started to giggle and play fight.

"You gonna take the ropes off?" Logan asked K, who just gave him a little smirk.

"No. And neither are you. Behave and stick around for the kids' party or else," she said with a little growl before she gave him a quick kiss.

Peter tried to get himself back to some semblance of control as he gasped his way back upright. "It's a family theme kind of night. Have you seen Chance and Krissy yet? Because you _should_."

"I have not," K said as she readjusted James in her arms. "But I was told they had big plans."

"You just… gotta go see the Addams and the Munsters. It's a thing of beauty," Peter said, still trying to regain control of his chuckles. "Krissy and Chance are _singing_."

"Lead the way, Captain — before I decide to use the other end of this rope," K told him with a smirk.

Peter straightened up fairly quickly but was still grinning before he shot her half a salute and led the way to where the party was — where Kate and Kurt were still actively flirting and Chance and Krissy were getting progressively more frustrated at their inability to snap.

"I love the look," K said. "Particularly the wild excuse to go overboard on the PDA."

"I thought about doing M*A*S*H this year, but Annie had the idea for the Munsters, and I figured I'd delay the Hot Lips PDA excuse for one more year," Kate replied without even looking her way before she fell back into giggling German and Kurt just kissed her all over again.

"Beautiful," K said as she looked for Annie and Scott. "Oh, he's a perfect Herman."

Kate giggled and had to nod her agreement even as Charlie rushed over to look very concerned. "Logan okay?"

"Yep, that's just his costume," K promised.

"Okay." Charlie tilted her head at Logan, and when he smiled at her, she seemed to decide he was fine, so she twirled around in her costume for him. "Do you like it?"

"You're adorable as always," he promised.

She giggled and called out her "thank you" before she ran back to go play with Gerry, past Chance and Krissy, who had finally given up on snapping to team up on Wade, who had come to the party dressed as Spiderman, to try and "scare" him, because he did very convincing falls and screams, to their delight.

When he fell to the ground, Krissy climbed on top of his chest to keep him there, her little tail swishing in time with her laughter as Chance declared him to be "beaten." "We win, Spidey," he said proudly as he and Krissy shared a high five.

"Um, excuse me, where did you get that?" Peter asked with a frown when he saw Wade's getup. "I haven't even worn that in public yet — and now I don't think I _can._ "

"What? _Noooooooo._ What are you doing, sweetums? This … this was supposed to be a couples thing! My little sweetie pie came as Spider Gwen — and _you were supposed to be JJ_!" Wade all but shouted. "You're supposed to call us menaces! And do the mustache twitchy thing … like you know .. like this …" He was clearly trying to replicate the motion, but between the fact that he was still wearing a mask and he had no facial hair .. it was left more to the imagination than anything else. Peter just stared at him for a moment before Wade fell backward, bellowing that he was 'wounded'.

This, of course, got the attention of all of the kids — though Wade probably hadn't been expecting little Gerry to run over with his plastic stethoscope. "Where does it hurt?" he asked with total seriousness.

"Where should it hurt?" Elin asked with a giggle.

Gerry grinned at her and gave her a thumbs up as he put his stethoscope up to his ears. "I gotta listen to your heart now in case it hurts there," he informed Wade. "Elin, you wanna help me?"

"Your mommy's the nurse. I'm the Viking. I can stab him for you," she said, still giggling as she waved her plastic sword menacingly.

Gerry shook his head. "Nooo. No stabbing. I'm _fixing_ him." He very seriously listened to Wade's heart.

"I give you something to fix!" Elin said with a hopeful look. "I'll help."

Gerry seemed to consider this and then looked down at Wade to very seriously whisper, "Pretend she hurted you. She's little, and her sword is pretend."

Wade gave him an exaggerated nod and a wink before he played along, shouting and half crying when Elin poked him in the ribs a little bit. "I just stabbed you a little," she said when she knelt down next to him and covered his mouth. "Shuuuush."

"It's okay. I'll fix him," Gerry assured her and gave Wade his best attempt at a wink — which was to blink both eyes hard.

But Elin shook her head as she watched Wade, sitting next to his head. "Nuh-uh. I don't think you can."

"Yeah-huh. I can fix anybody cuz I'm _Lifeguard_." He straightened up importantly and put away his stethoscope. "I gonna fix you up. Don't worry. Then you get candy."

"Saaaave me," Wade said in a raspy voice. "I'm dynin'."

Gerry grinned and giggled madly as he very importantly brought out his little doctor kit and used all the plastic toys in "fixing" Wade before he patted Wade's head and looked him over happily.

But Wade kept making dying noises and carrying on until Elin frowned and covered his mouth again. "He fixed you. Shhhussshhh." When he stopped being ridiculous for a second, she gave him a grin and kissed the end of his nose. "Better."

Gerry grinned and pulled out a piece of his Halloween candy to give to Wade. "You're a very good patient," he said in his best grown-up voice.

Wade grinned at both of them before he swept them up in a snuggle and complemented Gerry on his skills while grumbling at Elin about how she better learn that she shouldn't stab her Uncle Wade _now_ before she started picking up her parents' bad habits.

But he melted into a puddle when the picking was done, and Elin gave him a bear hug in return. "C'mon, candy time," Elin told him as she pulled him toward Annie's spread of cupcakes and cookies and all things sugary.

When they got there, Sying was already at the table getting totally spoiled for his birthday, and he waved happily at Elin and Gerry as they arrived. "Hi! You having fun?" he called out.

She smiled his way and nodded. "We gotta get sweets. I'm going to make Daddy eat some while he can't fight me. He needs a cupcake."

Sying beamed at that and jumped down from where he was sitting on the table, a cupcake in each hand as he held them both out to Elin. "Here. One for you and one for Grampa Wolvie."

She beamed right back at him, and with a bright tone, she thanked him in Kree.

" _You're welcome!"_ he said right back, also in Kree and looking perfectly delighted as the two giggled back and forth.

"Whaaaat? That ... what was that?" Wade asked as he squatted down to be closer to eye level with the little ones. "That was made up!"

Elin frowned at him and shook her head seriously. "No it wasn't."

Sying nodded seriously. "She said thank you!"

"No, she didn't; she said … ah … I'm not sure what she said, but it wasn't thank you."

Sying repeated the difficult Kree word for 'thank you' and crossed his arms. "It mean thank you."

"You made that up," Wade said in a stage whisper.

"No-o-oo," Sying insisted, scrunching up his face. "Those are the words of my _dad_!"

"Then your dad made 'em up," Wade said, crossing his arms stubbornly.

"You're silly," Elin said. "And wrong."

While the kids had been arguing with Wade, Noh and Jubilee had made their way over to play with the birthday boy — and when they saw both Elin and Sying squaring off with their arms crossed, they glanced at each other, wondering what those two were standing together about _this time_.

Logan and K weren't far behind them, as K had handed James off to Cap, and the two of them were getting along far too well, with James grinning up at everything Cap said.

"Wade, what are you trying to do?" Logan asked as he came up behind the little ones. "Because if you want your ass kicked, we can just go outside."

"He says my dad maded up words!" Sying said before he spit out a Kree word that Noh didn't actually teach him that Noh was glad none of the others knew the translation for.

Logan gave Noh a look at the word and then crouched down next to Sying and Elin. "Don't let him get you upset. He just doesn't understand it. He does the same thing to me when I speak Japanese around him."

"But nobody else says my daddy's words," Sying tried to explain. "So it's _really_ important!"

Logan looked up at Wade. "Fix this."

"Or what? You can't do anything all tied up like that," Wade said with a grin. "Which … I _thought_ this was a family-style party. What gives with the ropes?"

"Wade, fix this or I will kick your ass right now. You and I both know I can do that with my hands tied behind my back. This," Logan said raising his wrists a hair. "Is not going to be a problem."

Wade let out a breath very dramatically, obviously rolling his eyes and making a thing out of it. "Fine. _FINE._ " He looked at Sying and tipped his head to the side. "Okay, little mister smart birthday boy. How does your dad say … hello?"

Sying didn't hesitate to spit the Kree word right out, arms still crossed.

"Alright. What about … Two? Seven? _Avocado_?"

Sying scrunched his nose up and looked a bit distressed. "I only know to five," he said to K and Noh both, looking for help.

"Kree don't have avocados," Elin told him with a _look_ that was so much like her father it was noteworthy.

"We do have a word for imbeciles, though," Noh muttered under his breath to K before he looked to Sying and gave him the word for seven to repeat to Wade after the word for two.

"Okay, okay," Wade said. "How about … Happy Birthday?" he asked as he seemed to magically produce his present for the boy.

Sying looked honestly surprised at the present's appearance and couldn't help but giggle delightedly even as he told Wade what the words were and tried to help him pronounce it correctly, moving on from annoyance to trying to _help_.

When it was clear that the crisis had been averted, Elin rushed over to pick up her cupcake while her dad was still at her level. "Sying, help!" she shouted his way. "Get him!"

Sying perked up at the chance to help with this particular task as he ran right over to straight up tackle Logan — and with Logan's hands tied and Sying's increased strength, they actually did manage to topple him over as Sying and Elin both broke into giggles.

"Alright, you got me down," Logan said as the two little ones continued to giggle. "What do I gotta do to get up?"

"You gotta do what Elin says. She in charge!" Sying said.

Elin giggled and frowned at how to do this. "You gotta have a cupcake." she said, though she couldn't see how to hand it to him — so she just shrugged and tried to feed it to him, getting frosting on him in the process before the two of them bounded off, giggling.

"Come on, let's clean you up. Messy," K teased. "Can't take you anywhere."

"At least he knows who is in charge," Noh laughed. "My little sister runs the show."

"Tell that to the woman holding the rope," Logan countered.

"A delegated duty," Noh said, waving his hand with a smirk as the adults headed over, following Sying, to let the birthday boy open his presents.

He was bouncing along happily and handing out sincere "thank you"s to everyone who gave him a present, but it wasn't until the very end that little Krissy came over with her wrapped up gift and a little grin.

"Happy birfday," she said as she handed it to him, and he was giggling all the way up through unwrapping it until he pulled out the toy lightsaber and just _stared_ at it.

Krissy tilted her head at him uncertainly until she tried to prompt him. "Push de buttnin."

Sying did just that, and the little toy lightsaber lit up purple, but that just had him gaping even more. Krissy watched him for a second before she ran over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "It for you!" she explained, and he finally started to giggle delightedly and hugged her tightly right back until she had to push him away because he was hugging _too_ tight.

"Thank you!" Sying sang out as he swished the lit-up lightsaber around delightedly. " _Don-keh_!"

She giggled at him and patted his shoulder at the mispronunciation. " _Bitte_ ," she replied through her giggles.

Noh leaned over to Kurt with an ill-concealed grin. "I cannot tell if he is smitten with the gift or with the giver or both," he whispered.

"I think it's both," Kurt replied low.

"She is a charmer, your Krissy." Noh raised an eyebrow. "Dangerous genetics," he teased.

"He's not the only one falling victim to dangerous genetics," Kurt laughed.

"Ah, you mean little Chance," Noh teased. "Well, we've known that was a lost cause since my little sister was born."

"I think these little ones are going to give us plenty to worry about as they get older," Kurt said.

Noh laughed. "Well, it is always an adventure on this world," he agreed before he headed off to go sweep Jubilee into a little dance while their son was distracted with his brand new lightsaber.

And meanwhile, it wasn't long before Steve walked up to Kurt, holding James and looking a bit sheepish. "So … I've got this little guy … and I don't know what to do with him."

Kurt looked over at the snuggled up little boy and smirked. "You seem to be able to handle yourself just fine," he said.

"Yeah, but his parents seem to have slipped off or something. Can you help me out? Please?"

"Certainly," Kurt agreed before he teleported away and returned an instant later with one of James' toys to give to the little boy. "There. He shouldn't give you any trouble until his parents come back," he said with an impish grin before he simply vanished again.

"That was not what I meant," Steve said, mostly to himself, as he looked for some help elsewhere.

He finally found a bit of a reprieve in Sharon, who was talking with Kate and Annie — who were both showing off their newest little ones as Kari and Cody seemed content to watch all the excitement around them. Kate grinned impishly at Steve when she saw him come by and jerked her head at him to tell him to come over. "You get stranded with James?" she teased.

"Sure looks like it," he replied, though James was curled up on his shoulder and holding on tight. "One minute, they were headed toward the kids — and the next, they were gone."

"Do you want me to take him?" Annie asked, shifting Cody a bit.

"Here, let me," Sharon said as she gently lifted Cody out of Annie's arms so Annie could take the tired little boy from Steve.

"Little bit of baby hot potato," Kate teased.

"Well, you guys seem to have them in tandem," Sharon teased right back as she gently adjusted Cody and the little boy snuggled right into her and let out a little hitched yawn.

"Well, we were all actually trying this time," Kate teased, then glanced up at Steve with a wide grin. "Feel sufficiently rescued?"

"Ah, not especially," he said with a little laugh.

Kate grinned even wider at him. "Want to hold Kari for a bit?" she asked. "She's started wrapping her tail around people she likes."

He chuckled a little, but before he could properly say no, she'd tipped her into his arms. "Oh, okay. I guess so."

Kate beamed at him. "Can't say no to baby elves, Cap. It's a rule," she informed him as Kari squeaked happily at him and wrapped her tail around his wrist. She leaned over and booped Kari on the nose. "Promise I won't abandon you with her, though."

Cap just sort of sheepishly smiled as he adjusted his hold on Kari so that she was a little better snuggled in — though it wasn't long before Scott came over to offer to take James to bed. The little guy was all but asleep — and both Annie and Kate had to agree that their little ones needed to go to bed too. Which finally rescued Cap from his accidental babysitting as the three X-Men said their goodbyes to go put the little ones down.

It wasn't long after Scott had gone with James that K returned looking for Elin. "Good little party, then?" she asked as she picked up her tuckered-out little Viking.

"Kids all seemed to enjoy it," Steve said mildly.

"You've got to start training Sying. He's a natural with that little lightsaber," Sharon laughed. "I'm pretty sure he has the grip right down from the movies."

"Very likely," K agreed. "Sorry it took me so long to get back. I hope he didn't give you any _trouble_."

Steve looked a bit sheepish, but Sharon laughed and shook her head. "No, he went to sleep a while ago, and Scott took him upstairs."

"Yeah, I saw him on the way down," K admitted. "You did good, Cap."

"I just held him. He was already pretty tired," Steve said with a little shrug.

"Yeah, but he doesn't let just anyone hold him," she said in response.

"He … he's a lot like his dad. Looks just like him," Cap said lamely.

"Is that why it was so easy for you to snuggle him for so long?" K teased. "You have stories from the war you haven't shared?"

"I'm just going to leave now and pretend this conversation didn't happen," Steve said as he slipped his arm around Sharon's waist. "I know when a tactical retreat is called for."

"Aww, come on, it's okay. It was _cold._ I'm sure."

Steve gave K a _look_ that wasn't helped at all by the fact that Sharon was snickering beside him all the way out of the party. "Good _night_ K."

"Good night, Cap, I look forward to the next time you can babysit James _and_ Elin. They'll love it."

He sighed and looked over at Sharon as they headed out the door. "This is going to be a thing now, isn't it?"

"You walked right into it," Sharon agreed, still snickering a little as they headed out with the rest of the party guests as the ones with kids got their little ones headed home and to bed for the night.


	14. The Dread Pirate Blue Tail

**Chapter 14: "The Dread Pirate Blue Tail: Scourge of the Caribbean"**

Kurt hadn't gotten a text from Kamala and Miles until mid-morning on his birthday, and as Kate was feeding Kari and Krissy was playing with the other older kids, he had a little time to pop by and get the two newlyweds home.

He had to laugh a little when he arrived and it was clear that they hadn't gone outside much at all, if the little layer of accumulated leaves and snow on the deck chairs was any indication, though he did see a little trail of footprints headed out to the lake — where he found the two of them bundled up in a blanket and sitting on the dock chatting comfortably.

"Are you sure you're ready to go back?" Kurt asked.

Both of them startled a bit and glanced up at him before Kamala nodded quickly. "Yeah, this place is really nice, but… there are wolves?"

"And they're loud," Miles supplied helpfully.

"Yes, well, at least the bears were denned up for the winter," Kurt teased.

"Bears too?" Kamala shook her head. "I'm glad we stayed in."

"Yeah, but the cabin was great," Miles said quickly, obviously not wanting to sound ungrateful. "Really. It was perfect, and the fireplace was perfect, and there was good food, and really — it was just great!"

"It is a wonderful little hideaway, isn't it?" Kurt asked with a grin.

"It's nice and quiet when there aren't wolves," Kamala agreed as she leaned her head on Miles' shoulder and grinned up at Kurt. "But we do need to get back. I only asked my professors for the two weeks off."

"Yeah. Gotta get back to work," Miles said, sounding honestly disappointed about it.

"Well if you're sure, then let's lock up and head back," Kurt said with that same smile. "You've been missed."

"Aww, hear that, Miles? They missed us," Kamala said, perking up as she jumped to her feet to offer Miles a hand up, and the young man grinned.

"Of course they did. You're a movie star, and _I'm_ Spiderman." He took her hand as the two followed Kurt back to the cabin to gather their things and go home.

When they were all set, Kurt rested a hand on both of their shoulders before he simply teleported them straight to the tower, where they startled Nova off of the stool he was sitting on at the counter.

"We're back!" Miles announced with a grin as Nova picked himself back up.

"I see that," he said, climbing back onto the stool. "Welcome back. Your new room's upstairs. Tony got all the wedding gifts moved in so, watch your step."

Miles and Kamala glanced at each other and had to grin and head off to see just what constituted a "new" room — since they were now sharing one — in the tower, leaving Kurt behind to pop back home with a little smile at their excitement over all the new things that came with being newly married.

When he came back, Kate had just finished putting Kari down for a nap, and she grinned as he teleported into their room. "Perfect timing, birthday boy," she told him as she all but bounced over to wrap him up in a kiss. "How're the newlyweds?"

"They are perfectly contented together and unbelievably adorable," Kurt reported.

"Well that just about sums them up, doesn't it?" Kate laughed. "And us, of course," she added as she popped up on her toes to steal a little kiss.

"So, what do you have planned for the day?" Kurt asked as he wrapped his arms around her waist and his tail around one leg.

"Well I've been told I have to _share_ you for a little while this afternoon so other people can wish you a happy birthday," Kate said as if this was a horrible imposition.

"Vicious lies," he growled out.

She laughed and nodded her agreement. "But after a little cake and sharing ... I was thinking we could try to have an island getaway at that beach house we never actually used, seeing as the Caribbean is safe again," she said with a little grin. "Logan's watching the girls, so we can take as much time as we want."

"Of course he is," he said with a little laugh.

"But you know ... the people who want to say hi… they won't be here for a little while," Kate said with a little sly smile. "No reason I have to share you until, oh, about two o'clock today."

"Then what _ever_ will do you with me?"

"It's a mystery." Kate said with an ever-widening impish grin before she pulled a familiar amulet from her jeans pocket and pulled him along by the hand into the next room.

* * *

When Kate and Kurt finally made an appearance, the rest of the X-Men were sure to make the most out of Kate's "graciously" allowing Kurt to see anyone but her, as Annie teased her. But seeing as both Annie and Kate knew what was going on, the teasing fell a bit short as they waited for Tammy and Tyler to drive back down from campus to join the celebrations.

In the meantime, Kitty had stolen Kurt entirely to wrap him in a huge hug and tell him all about their latest adventures in space. The Guardians had been having a bit more problems with the Shi'ar since their failed invasion, since they were still looking to expand their empire — just not Earth's direction for the moment. So it was a lot of stories of close shaves and bravery, and Kurt loved every minute of her storytelling.

Annie had red velvet cupcakes for everyone, and the kids had all been sure to give Kurt little hugs and kisses by the time the college-bound kids arrived, a little later than they'd meant to but still grinning wide.

"Running late, eh?" K teased as they came in. "Shocker."

"Traffic," Tammy replied without hesitating.

"Yeah, we used that one last week," Logan replied with a smirk.

Tyler gave him a look but headed over to where Kurt was to wrap him in a warm hug. "Happy birthday — sorry we're late," he said as soon as he'd released the Elf and Tammy darted in to get her hug as well.

"We really did get stuck in traffic," Tammy supplied with a little grin. "But… we were wondering if we could borrow you for a few minutes before you and Kate run off together?"

"Of course," Kurt said. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, we booked our temple sealing," Tyler said as Tammy just beamed beside him. "But we were wondering if you'd do the ring exchange afterward with everybody from the team. It'll be the last weekend of January."

"I'd be honored," Kurt said sincerely with a wide grin. "Of course."

"Great!" Tyler beamed for a second before he wrapped Kurt in another hug. "Really, thanks so much."

"And happy birthday," Tammy added helpfully as Tyler seemed to be too excited to do much else.

Kurt beamed at both of them and wrapped them in hugs before they went off to go join Daisy and Hank at the table playing with little Kari, who was in _love_ with Hank's fur.

Kurt startled a bit when Kate came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head against his back for a moment before she pressed a kiss between his shoulder blades. "You have a good talk with Tammy and Tyler?" she asked innocently.

"You already knew what they were going to ask," he accused her as he gently turned so he was facing her.

She grinned up at him and pulled him a little closer. "Of course I did. Hasn't anyone told you I'm the resident party planner?" she asked as if this was completely obvious.

He chuckled low and kissed her gently. "You are a troublemaker," he growled low in her ear, and she let out a little breath of a laugh.

"You've known that since you met me," she pointed out. She pulled him into another, longer kiss with one hand in his hair, and when she just kept pulling him tighter, he took that as his cue to teleport them to the little beach house Kate owned and away from tiny eyes and ears — and from the adults as well.

The warm Caribbean sun made an immediate difference as the kiss broke and their clothing, it was quickly apparent, simply wasn't fit for the weather.

Kate quickly pulled the sweater over her head and stepped out of her shoes and socks as the warm sand filled the gaps between her toes, knowing just from the look on Kurt's face what he was thinking and wanting to save herself the frustration of wet socks before he could get there.

And she did, in fact, manage to get out of her socks before he teleported them about ten feet above the deep blue waves and dropped them both in, though from the little grin he had on his face before he tackled her back under the water, she had a feeling he was just doing that to be nice to avoid getting yelled at for the wet socks.

When they popped back up out of the water, Kate splashed him and shook her head at him. "You ridiculous imp!" she accused him, but it did absolutely nothing to stop the wide grin on his face.

"You say that like you're surprised," he countered, using his tail to pull her closer even as he was treading water.

"Oh, not anymore," she said with a dramatic sigh as she allowed him to pull her a bit closer before she tackled him under the waves — though with his tail still wrapped around her like it was, she was of course pulled under with him.

They continued like that for a while, both of them determined not to let the other get a leg up, though Kate was clearly losing when she was fighting a teleporter who could just drop her from high up above the waves when it looked like she might be getting the upper hand. They were both completely soaked and had long ago peeled off their sopping wet winter layers by the time they headed back to the beach, still grinning.

"One of these times we're going to start out a beach vacation in our bathing suits," Kate teased him as she pulled her shirt over her head.

"What would be the fun in that?" Kurt asked with a little teasing grin.

"You're absolutely right. How completely ridiculous of me to suggest swimming in swimsuits," Kate said, straightfaced as she shimmied out of her sopping wet jeans.

He grinned sideways at her and swept her up into a long kiss before he teleported the two of them back into the beach house to get changed — eventually.

 **Notes: This is the last chapter of this volume, but never fear! We're still totally truckin' along and enjoying this cooky universe. The next volume, "Legacy," will be on Canucklehead Cowgirl's profile very shortly!**


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